A Shelby County Sheriff's deputy on patrol near the Shelby County Penal Farm spotted a black Chevrolet Malibu parked off the roadway on Gardener Road around 3 a.m. on August 29, and what the deputy found inside would lead to a lengthy list of felony charges. Elijah Scales was passed out in the passenger seat, the vehicle's only occupant, with a loaded Glock 26 9mm handgun, bags of marijuana, prescription pills, bolt cutters, and a power saw all found in or around the car.
According to Action News 5, the vehicle had a strong odor of marijuana when the deputy approached, and a bag with a leafy green substance sat in the cup holder in plain view. A search turned up 135 grams of marijuana split into five medium-sized bags, along with oxycodone, alprazolam and dextroamphetamine pills, drug paraphernalia, rolling papers, several lighters, three cellphones, charging cables, a multitool, and several cartons of cigarettes. The Glock found in the vehicle had 16 live rounds loaded in its magazine.
Deputies also noticed footprints leading from the driver's side of the car toward a nearby wooded area, the outlet reports. Scales told police that two other people had been with him but that he did not know where they had gone. A deputy searched the wooded area but found no one there.
Charges Stack Up Under Tennessee's Contraband Laws
Scales now faces a lengthy charge sheet: multiple counts of possession of controlled substances with intent to manufacture, deliver or sell, covering marijuana, oxycodone, alprazolam and dextroamphetamine specifically, plus unlawful carrying or possession of a weapon, possession of burglary tools, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a dangerous felony. He was transported to 201 Poplar and later made bail. He is expected to appear in court on September 9 at 9 a.m.
The burglary tools charge stems from Tennessee's statute covering items like bolt cutters or power saws found under circumstances suggesting intent to break into property, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to 11 months and 29 days in jail, according to Justia Law. But the more serious exposure comes from combining the loaded firearm with felony-level narcotics charges. Under Tennessee Code § 39-17-1324, possessing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony — a category that includes drug trafficking offenses — carries a mandatory Class C felony sentence that must run consecutively to any underlying drug conviction, with no eligibility for probation, according to Freeman & Fuson. Separately, Tennessee Code § 39-16-201 makes introducing or attempting to introduce contraband into a penal facility a felony that ranges from a Class C felony for weapons to a Class D felony for controlled substances, per the Brooks Law Firm.
A Familiar Pattern at the Penal Farm's Perimeter
Scales' arrest lands just two months after a strikingly similar incident at the same facility. On June 23, three men were arrested at the Shelby County Penal Farm after using bolt cutters to cut through a perimeter fence at 2 a.m. in an attempt to smuggle marijuana, vapes, cellphones and electronics inside, according to localmemphis.com. That earlier case, involving suspects Carloss Wilkins, Ladarius Munn and Jamie Rusan, ended in charges of aggravated burglary and conspiracy to supply contraband.
The main facility of the Shelby County Division of Corrections sits at 1045 Mullins Station Road in East Memphis, directly bordering Gardener Road, where Scales' car was found parked off the roadway. That geography is no coincidence: the sprawling former 5,017-acre Shelby County Penal Farm property was gradually carved up over the late 20th century, leaving the modern 1,000-acre Agricenter International complex and community garden plots along Gardener Road bordering the correctional property, a pattern Hoodline previously detailed in coverage of the Delta Fair. That layout has left the facility's perimeter accessible from public roads for decades.
Contraband smuggling attempts at the penal farm are not new. Back in September 2016, police launched what they called Operation Jail House Rock, arresting 21 people — including facility employees — for smuggling drugs, cellphones and weapons across the penal farm's fences, according to localmemphis.com's earlier reporting on the raid.
Facility Already Facing Scrutiny Over Safety and Costs
The arrest also comes amid broader scrutiny of conditions at the Shelby County Division of Corrections, which has a capacity of roughly 1,300 to 2,200 inmates. Security and inmate safety at the facility drew heightened public attention after the July 23 death of 29-year-old pre-trial detainee Justin Hardaway, who was found in medical distress inside the facility, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of the detainee's death.
The facility has also been at the center of a financial dispute between Shelby County and the state. Earlier this year, the Division of Corrections housed nearly 1,000 state inmates while county leaders disputed the reimbursement rates the state was paying to house those prisoners, a fight Hoodline covered in February. Mayor Lee Harris had earlier made county history in June 2025 by signing an executive order abolishing solitary confinement at the facility, according to the Shelby County Mayor's Office.
Whether the two people Scales said fled into the woods have been identified or located, and whether the intended recipients of the contraband inside the facility have been determined, remain open questions that investigators have not publicly addressed.
