MEMPHIS, TN – The West Tennessee Violent Crime and Drug Task Force interdicted a large quantity of marijuana during a traffic stop Monday on Interstate-40 which led to the arrest of a Florida man for a felony drug charge.
Donald Gayetsky, 62, of Jacksonville, Florida, was charged with possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) with intent to manufacture, deliver or sell. The amount of marijuana seized makes this charge a class A felony, which carries a standard sentence of 15-25 years in prison. Gayetsky is being held in the Shelby County Jail on $5 million bond. He is scheduled to be arraigned on January 23.
Special Agent Jason Moore who is assigned to the Drug Task Force’s Interstate Interdiction Unit by the Memphis Police Department on Wednesday afternoon seized 736 pounds of marijuana from a Ford E-350 motor home that Gayetsky was driving on eastbound I-40 near Airline Road. Special Agent Moore had stopped the motor home for following a tractor trailer too closely. During the traffic stop, a narcotics detection dog positively responded to the presence of a narcotic odor inside the motor home. Special Agent Moore further searched the vehicle and found 53 green plastic-wrapped bundles of marijuana inside a hidden compartment under a motor home bed and an additional five bundles of the drug in an overhead compartment. The marijuana has a retail value of up to $1,000 per pound.
The Interstate Interdiction Unit has been a key element to stopping the pipeline of drugs routed through Memphis and sold in our community and in other cities. The Unit is comprised of five officers assigned from the Memphis Police Department and five officers assigned from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. Two additional grant paid agents assist in operational activities with the Unit. The Interstate Interdiction Unit was established by the Drug Task Force in January 2000.
The West Tennessee Violent Crime and Drug Task Force is a joint agency comprised of law enforcement officers assigned from various law enforcement agencies in three of west Tennessee’s judicial districts. Of those officers, six work solely for the Task Force and not for separate law enforcement agencies.
The judicial districts include the 28th Judicial District (Crockett, Gibson, and Haywood Counties); the 29th Judicial District (Dyer and Lake Counties); and the 30th Judicial District (Shelby County). The Task Force is administered by the District Attorneys General of these districts. David McGriff, who is also serves as the D.A.’s Chief Criminal Investigator, is director of the Task Force. |