After Resisting Search, a Kansas City Traveler Arrested with $70,000 in Pockets

At first the California-bound passenger claimed his pockets were filled with Muslim "prayer books" that airline security personnel could not touch.

But Don A. White Jr. of Sacramento may have been serving mammon instead of God.

After a chase through Terminal B at Kansas City International Airport, officers found those prayer books were really two bundles of cash totaling about $70,000.

Admissions that White purportedly made to investigators may land him in a federal mortgage-fraud investigation.

Federal prosecutors charged him with interfering with security officers after he allegedly ran from a KCI passenger screening area one week ago.

According to federal court records:

White, 27, made two unsuccessful passes through a metal detector while preparing to board a Southwest Airlines flight to San Diego. After a pat down, security officers detected "bulky solid items" in the side pockets of his cargo pants.

Asked about the items, White purportedly announced that he was a Muslim carrying prayer books. On further questioning, White acknowledged that he was a Christian, but he still would not permit the screener to handle his prayer books.

Security supervisor Lowell Breshears suggested that White place the prayer books into a tray and then retrieve them at the other end of the conveyor belt. According to a Secret Service affidavit, White agreed and stepped up to the X-ray machine.

White then bolted, ran out of Terminal B and fled into traffic, officers contended.

Airport police arrested him within a few minutes with the cash in his pockets. White allegedly later told a federal agent that it had come from mortgages obtained in the Kansas City area through the use of inflated property appraisals. He then declined to discuss the matter further, according to court records.

Since 2004, federal authorities have mounted several high-profile mortgage-fraud investigations to crack down on the use of inflated appraisals to steal from lenders. Earlier this fall, for example, Belton real estate investor Brent Barber was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for such a scheme.

A federal magistrate released White on $5,000 bond and ordered that he remain in the Kansas City area while prosecutors take his case to the grand jury. His attorney did not return calls Wednesday.

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