Suspect claims he was entrapped
Donnie Phillips says he sold drugs to help his son fight murder charges
A Bay Area man accused of running a meth ring will use an unexpected defense in his upcoming trial: He was entrapped because of his own “desperation” to help his son Coby Phillips — the leader of an IrishAmerican street gang — fight murder charges.
Donnie Phillips of Concord is scheduled to go on trial Monday to face charges that he conspired with two others to possess and distribute methamphetamine throughout the Bay Area. Authorities describe Phillips as a largescale meth chemist who spent decades producing the drug in clandestine spots throughout Northern California, and supplied members of the Hells Angels during the early 2000s.
Phillips was indicted on 11 federal drug trafficking charges two years ago, along with Phyllis Mosher of Benicia and Gordon Miller, an East Contra Costa resident who authorities say attempted to evade arrest after two defendants were caught. DEA records say that in 2014, Phillips and Mosher set up several deals to sell multiple pounds of meth at a time, for tens of thousands of dollars, as undercover DEA agents monitored them.
Last year, Mosher took a plea deal for 15 years in federal prison. Phillips and Miller will be tried on Monday. But in pretrial briefs, Phillips’ attorney — renowned defense lawyer Tony Serra — described Mosher as having been unwittingly used by the federal government to “entrap” Phillips.
Phillips had “renounced” his involvement with drugs in 2014, but relented after Mosher, asked him repeatedly to start supplying her with meth, Serra claims. Around the same time, Phillips told his girlfriend “that he was desperate to help his son who faced the death penalty; he was worried for his son’s life and felt ashamed that he could not contribute to his son’s defense lawyer,” according to the defense brief.
Phillips’ son, Coby Phillips, 44, was never charged with a death penalty crime, but he was facing life in prison at the time for killing a man who police say had interfered with Coby’s own sizable meth business. He was convicted in November 2016.
In the 1990s, Coby Phillips cofounded the Family Affiliated Irish Mafia, or FAIM, a street gang based in Contra Costa and Solano counties. The complaint against Donnie alleges that in 2014, when Coby was in jail awaiting trial, Donnie took over his son’s illicit dealings and began supplying FAIM members with meth.
Federal authorities say the defendants were caught arranging and carrying out drug deals with an undercover agent and confidential informants, and that the defendants were placed under surveillance as well. Eventually Drug Enforcement Administration agents searched Donnie’s green Cadillac and found two pounds of meth in the trunk, along with nearly $30,000 in cash. They also found Hells Angels memorabilia and stacks of cash during a raid of Miller’s home.
According to DEA records, agents observed several largescale meth deals that took place in well-trafficked locations throughout the Bay Area: a Chevy’s restaurant near a Vallejo theme park, a restaurant and bar in Byron, a Jack-in-the-Box in Benicia, the parking lot of a Christian church, and the My Office Bar in Vallejo, where Mosher worked as a bartender.
Interestingly, the My Office Bar was the scene of a FAIMrelated murder in 2007, where a former gang leader, Thomas “Bubba” Covey, was targeted, the apparent culmination of a following out between Covey and other gang members. An innocent bystander, Jose Corona, was struck and killed by the bullets intended for Covey, who was not injured. A FAIM member was convicted in the killing.
Coby, meanwhile, was convicted in 2016 of killing Darryl Grockett, a member of a notorious prison gang who authorities say was planning to rob Coby’s meth suppliers, two Sinaloa Cartel-affiliated brothers who were also implicated in the killing. Last May a judge sentenced Coby to 105 years to life.
Coby represented himself in the case for years, then secured prominent defense lawyer Dan Horowitz, Horowitz was was appointed through the conflicts panel, meaning the state paid his salary.
“If (Donnie Phillips) wanted to pay me, maybe he should have invested in bitcoin,” Horowitz said, declining to comment further.
On the night he was shot, Grockett was driving a truck registered to Mosher. Authorities interviewed her but she declined to provide much information beyond acknowledging she knew Grockett and Coby, and let people put cars in her name.
Last month, U.S. Attorneys asked for Mosher’s sentencing date to be delayed over concern that she would be called as a defense witness and give untruthful testimony to benefit Donnie, out of fear he’d retaliate if she didn’t back up his story. Serra responded with allegations that federal prosecutors were improperly attempting to intimidate Mosher. The judge did not appeared to agree with the prosecution, but postponed Mosher’s sentencing after she agreed to move the hearing.