Saturday Pot Bust in Southeast Wyoming One of Year’s Largest
The Wyoming Highway Patrol is calling it one of the largest marijuana busts of the year, as 197 pounds were confiscated during a traffic stop Saturday near Cheyenne.
"Most of our busts are usually around 30 to 40 pounds, but when we do get busts like this it's quite often that this happens during this time of the year," said Sgt. Kyle McKay.
Sixty-five-year-old Larry Gibson of Redding, California was pulled over on Interstate 80 after a trooper passing his pickup and horse trailer noticed he didn't have any registration on his pickup.
The trooper said Gibson "was extremely nervous" and "fumbled as he tried to retrieve his driver's license from his wallet because his hands were shaking so bad."
The troopers' K9 partner was deployed and alerted on the horse trailer, where 159 vacuum sealed packages of marijuana were found.
McKay says the marijuana, which had an estimated street value of $394,000, was being transported to the Muscle Shoals, Alabama area from Eureka, California.
"This is the harvesting season, so you'll start seeing a lot more marijuana coming through from the west coast," said McKay.
Gibson has been charged with possession with intent to deliver marijuana, felony possession of marijuana and no valid registration. He could face up to 15-and-a-half years in prison if convicted.