Gainesville Police Seize Drugs, Arrest Five

Authorities say Gainesville police, along with several federal, state and local agencies, arrested five people and seized over $3 million worth of drugs following a three week drug trafficking investigation.

The Gainesville Police Department says based on information from ICE Homeland Security investigations, they, along with state and federal agencies, intercepted a tractor-trailer truck in the 1700 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard in Gainesville on April 12. When the trailer was examined, police found pallets full of peppers, cactus and cilantro. They say inside several of the pallets were duct-taped packages of marijuana.

According to Lt. Scott Ware of the Hall County Sheriff's Office, 106 packages of marijuana were found, weighing over 1,500 pounds. Police estimate the street value to be over $3 million.

They say vehicles and cash were also seized during the course of the investigation.

Police said it was the largest marijuana bust in the area in the last 10 years.

Investigators said that it appeared the marijuana was smuggled in from Mexico and moved to Kansas before being transported to Georgia. Gainesville Police Chief Brian Kelly said authorities weren’t sure where the drugs were headed.

Arrested were Jose Luis Chavez-Morfin, 43; Juventino Morfin-Mendoza, 38; Jose Macias-Sanchez, 45, all from Duluth, Georgia, Marcos Antonio Ortiz-Barajas, 19, from Douglasville, Georgia, and Calvin Elwood Gearhart, 47, of Wichita, Kansas. All face charges of trafficking marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

According to police, units from the FBI, GBI, DEA, ICE, the Georgia State Patrol and the Hall County Sheriff's Office participated in the operation.