Law Enforcement Arrests Three After Seizure of Approximately 114 Pounds of Methamphetamine and Two Pounds of Heroin on Mississippi Gulf Coast

Methamphetamine Seizure One of the Largest in History on the Mississippi Gulf Coast

JACKSON, MS—Aaron Whavers, 49, of Pass Christian, Mississippi, Gerald Jones, 64, of Mobile, Alabama, and Sharard Collier, 43, of Inglewood, California, were charged Tuesday, November 5, 2019, with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

On Monday, November 4, 2019, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and Harrison County CNET agents conducted searches of Whavers’ residence on Firetower Road in Pass Christian, and also a tractor trailer truck parked at a truck stop on County Farm Road in Long Beach, Mississippi. Agents recovered approximately 51 pounds of methamphetamine and two pounds of heroin, a Glock .40 caliber pistol, and $30,000 from Whavers’ residence. Law enforcement also recovered approximately 63 pounds of methamphetamine from the tractor trailer truck parked at the truck stop in Long Beach. The estimated value of the recovered narcotics is more than $1 million.

Whavers, Jones, and Collier made their initial appearances on Monday, November 4, 2019, before U.S. Magistrate Judge John C. Gargiulo, Southern District of Mississippi, and were ordered to be held without bond pending a detention and preliminary hearing. The detention and preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 13, 2019 at 1:30 p.m. before United States Magistrate Judge Robert H. Walker in Gulfport. If convicted, Whavers, Jones, and Collier face sentences of up to life in federal prison and a fine of up to $10 million.

These arrests and seizures are the result of a joint investigation by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, Harrison County Coastal Narcotics Enforcement Team, Harrison and Jackson County Sheriff’s Offices, and the South Mississippi Metropolitan Enforcement Team in Pascagoula. U.S. Border Patrol and the Jackson and Harrison County Sheriff’s Offices Canines assisted with the investigation.

The FBI Safe Streets Task Force is a Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area or HIDTA initiative, and receives funding from the Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington, D.C. It is made up of special agents from the FBI and law enforcement officers from the Pascagoula, Moss Point, Gautier, and Ocean Springs Police Departments, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and U.S. Border Patrol.

These charges are merely an accusation, and all arrestees are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.