Key Takeaways
- Memphis officers seeking Javunte Johnson on an aggravated robbery warrant arrested him and 12 others after allegedly catching them unloading $250,000 worth of chicken behind a Tennessee hotel.
- Truck driver Robert Wilson allegedly surrendered the commercial shipment to settle a drug debt, then tried to flee in the 18-wheeler when police arrived.
- Officers recovered the chicken, three handguns, fentanyl, and cocaine, while suspects faced charges including theft, drug possession with intent to sell, and unlawful gun possession.
Police went to a Tennessee hotel looking for one man accused of aggravated robbery. Instead, they allegedly found 13 people unloading a quarter-million dollars’ worth of chicken from an 18-wheeler in the parking lot.
Per a press release from the Memphis Safe Task Force, the surprise discovery on Sept. 15 turned a routine warrant pickup into a massive chicken heist—complete with a reported drug debt, three handguns, and a group of suspects attempting to make a run for it.
Members of the Memphis Safe Task Force arrived at the Economy Inn on Lamar Avenue to arrest 33-year-old Javunte Johnson on an outstanding warrant. Behind the hotel, authorities said, Johnson and 12 other people were removing pallets of chicken valued at approximately $250,000 from a semi-trailer. The group allegedly scattered when officers arrived, but nobody escaped. Task force members pursued and arrested all 13 people at the scene.
Then came the explanation. Investigators identified 56-year-old Robert Wilson as the driver who transported the load. According to police, Wilson said he had willingly handed over the chicken to settle a drug debt owed to one of the men helping unload it. He reportedly arranged for the man to accept the cargo as payment—meaning an entire commercial shipment of poultry had allegedly become currency before police interrupted the exchange. Officers later contacted Wilson’s employer and the company that hired it to transport the load.
Authorities recovered the chicken, but it was far from the only thing they found. Authorities seized three handguns, fentanyl and cocaine during the operation. Quantrivious Shavers, 25, was charged with theft, possession of fentanyl with intent to sell, and being a felon in possession of a handgun.
Samuel Jackson, 38, was charged with theft and possession of cocaine with intent to sell. Jessie Moore, 37, was also charged with being a felon in possession.
Johnson was charged with theft of property valued between $60,000 and $250,000, being a felon in possession of a handgun, and the aggravated robbery count connected to the original warrant. WREG reported that he was being held on a $280,000 bond.
Wilson, who allegedly tried to flee in the truck, was charged with theft and evading arrest in a vehicle. His bond and Shavers’ were set at $100,000 each, while Moore’s was set at $200,000. Johnson previously pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance with intent in 2021 and received a six-year sentence.
The chicken bust was only part of a larger enforcement sweep conducted that day. The multi-agency task force reported 49 arrests—including one juvenile—and three recovered firearms across Memphis.
