Florida woman tried to flee crash, hid $110K in dress, deputies say

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — A Florida woman tried hiding $110,000 in cash beneath her dress when she was removed from her sports car Sunday afternoon after crashing through a concert at a motorcycle dealership, deputies said.

>> Read more trending news

Investigators said Catherine Allford, 63, drove a Fiat 124 Spider through a closed-off area where a crowd of people were gathered for a customer appreciation event at Bert's Black Widow Harley-Davidson, the Charlotte Sun reported.

Bystanders started yelling at Allford to stop as she drove through the crowd, but she kept going toward where the band was playing and ran over the guitarist's foot, WFTX reported.

Investigators said the crowd continued to yell for her to stop as she tried to leave, the Sun reported. Allford's escape was momentarily halted when she hit a curb, deputies said. A dealership employee then stood in the way to block Allford from leaving but was pulled away, authorities said. Allford then put the car in reverse but hit another curb, and people surrounded the vehicle to block her from leaving, officials said.

Deputies arrived and approached Allford, who was still seated in the running car and was apparently crying as she was trying to hide something, the Sun reported.

Allford at first refused to get out of the car. As a deputy tried to help Allford from the car, she went limp and fell to the ground, the Sun reported.

When she fell, $110,000 fell out from Allford's dress. She told deputies she worked in real estate and had a lot of money, WBBH reported.

Allford told deputies she was recovering from back surgery and "probably took too many pain pills," the Sun reported.

Allford was arrested and charged with driving under the influence, driving under the influence with damage to property or person, leaving the scene of a crash involving injuries and refusal to submit to testing after license suspended, according to jail records.

Cox Media Group