Ex-WCU player faces drug rap

Judge won’t dismiss charges against Russhon R. Phillips tied to Oxycodone ring

WEST CHESTER >> A Common Pleas judge Friday refused to dismiss charges against a former West Chester University football player for his involvement in an illegal drug trafficking operation that involved the sale of Oxycodone, allegedly run by a fellow Golden Ram player.

Defense attorney Daniel Bush had argued at the conclusion of a pre-trial hearing that the prosecution had not presented evidence that his client, Russhon R. Phillips, was directly tied to five of the six sales of the prescription narcotic in the summer of 2016 that he is charged with.

Instead, Bush, of the West Chester firm of Lamb McErlane, said that the evidence against Phillips was akin to saying that he worked at a pizza parlor and thus any pizzas sold when he worked there were his creations alone.

“It’s not simply enough to use conjecture (that he might have been involved),” Bush told Judge Patrick Carmody, asking him to dismiss all but one of the alleged sales Phillips was tied to. “But that is exactly what the Commonwealth has presented.”

In response, Deputy District Attorney Carlos Barraza of the DA’s Drug Unit, said that the prosecution was entitled to have the evidence against Phillips viewed in the best possible light in its favor at the pre-trial stage of the proceedings against him. And what evidence had been presented, both at Phillip’s preliminary hearing and at the supplemental proceedings before Carmody, was enough to establish a probable case that he was an accomplice in the ring.

Money from controlled buys for the pills arranged by West Chester police was found in a search of Phillips apartment, and a cell

phone he was connected to had been used in all of the drug deals, said Barraza.

Carmody agreed with the prosecution that Phillips’ involvement, though perhaps indirect, was sufficient to hold him for trial.

Taking up Bush’s pizza parlor analogy, Carmody said Phillips had “made his own house” just that, saying in effect, “I am helping them deal drugs here.”

Phillips, a graduate of Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in Montgomery County who also had played football at Lehigh University, was on the WCU football roster in 2014. He was on the original 2016 roster but is no longer listed, spokeswoman Loretta MacAlpine, said following his arrest last year.

Both men face charges of possession of a controlled substance, delivery of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and conspiracy. Phillips also faces weapons charges in connection with a stolen handgun that was found in his home.

Dominic Toney, 20, of Lansdowne, Delaware County, as well a former member of the school’s football team, is believed to have been the leader of the operation, in which Phillips, 22, of Conshohocken, Montgomery County, allegedly served as one of his two sub-dealers, according to a criminal complaint filed by West Chester Detective John Battista.

Battista is a member of the Chester County Municipal Drug Task Force and the Chester County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). His complaint against the men states that he began investigating the pair, as well as a third man known only as “Sean,” in May.

The complaint states that a confidential informant told Battista that buyers looking for Oxycodone or cocaine could call or text a number belonging to the two men, place an order, and then meet with either Toney, Phillips, and Sean in the borough.

The complaint describes six controlled buys of Oxycodone between June 14 and July 20. The buys were made by confidential informants, and involved Toney as the primary seller, with Phillips conspiring with him. Each buy was for 10 pills of 30 micrograms apiece.

Phillips was arrested and charged July 20 after police searched his apartment in the 400 block of South Walnut Street. Inside, they found 55 Oxycodone pills, a bag of powdered cocaine, marijuana, and a Sig Sauer .45 caliber handgun. One of the informants had told Battista that he traded the handgun to Phillips for Oxycodone pills. He was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge John Bailey of West Whiteland and held on $75,000 cash bail.

Toney was arrested July 25 after police found him at an apartment in the 200 block of East Union Street. They also found an empty prescription bottle with his name on it for Oxycodone, a loaded handgun, and a loaded Mossberg shotgun, according to court records. He was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Matthew Seavey of Avondale and is being held on $100,000 cash bail.

In testimony before Carmody Friday, Battista, now a Chester County detective, said that when he executed a search warrant at the South Walnut Street apartment he found cash that had been pre-marked before it was given to a confidential informant who used the money to buy the pills. Some of the money was used in a buy July 7, and other was from two subsequent buys in which Phillips did not participate.

Also found in the home was the firearm.

Battista said that when he interviewed Phillips, the suspect told him that he had heard when he was on the football team that Toney was involved in drug sales. He met Toney in February or March, and told him “he was a struggling college student and needed to make money,” Battista testified. The two of them agreed that Phillips could get rent for his apartment from Toney if he allowed it to be used as a “stash house” and scene of drug transactions.

But Battista, on cross examination by Bush, acknowledged that he did not have evidence that Phillips participated in drug sales specifically, only that he used a cell phone that Toney and “Sean” used. In only the July 7 buy did Phillips actually handle the drugs sold, Battista said.

Following the hearing, Phillips was returned to Chester County Prison.