Jason Wayne Gaither, 48, of House Springs has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to two drug trafficking charges and an unlawful use of a weapon charge, according to court documents.
Jefferson County Div. 1 Circuit Judge Joseph Rathert on March 5 sentenced Gaither to 15 years in prison for each drug trafficking charge and four years in prison for the weapon charge. Gaither was ordered to undergo a long-term treatment program, court records said.
The sentences will be served concurrently, or at the same time, for a total of 15 years, according to court documents.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Lindsay Whalen prosecuted the case.
According to the case’s probable-cause statement, a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputy on Jan. 15, 2020, was dispatched to Hillview Drive in Cedar Hill due to a suspicious vehicle in the area. The deputy stopped a 2001 Oldsmobile Alero, which Gaither was driving, on Hillview Drive near Hwy. NN because the car’s license plate was registered to a different vehicle and not properly affixed to the car.
When the deputy searched the car, he found a clear plastic bag with white residue and a glass pipe that had a crystal-like substance inside it in the center console. The deputy also found a digital scale in the pocket of Gaither’s jacket, the report said.
The deputy found multiple plastic bags with crystal-like substances inside them, a container with a crystal-like substance inside it, a plastic bag containing a brown tar substance, a plastic bag with one pill, two plastic bags with a total of 136 pill capsules inside them, a plastic bag containing green vegetation, approximately 16 smoking pipes with white residue, two used syringes, a digital scale, multiple empty plastic bags and a 9 mm Hi-Point gun in the Alero’s trunk, according to the report.
Gaither told the deputy he didn’t know the items were in the trunk. However, legal paperwork with Gaither’s name was found in a bag next to the gun and drug paraphernalia, the report said.
While in custody, Gaither said, “well the price of dope is going to go up around here now,” according to the report.
Gaither is not allowed to have a gun due to pleading guilty to a felony stealing charge in August 2011 in Greene County, the probable-cause statement said.
According to court documents, Gaither was sentenced to seven years in prison for the stealing charge. However, that sentence was suspended, and he was placed on five years’ probation.