Malden Man Sentenced In Drugs, Weapons Conspiracy Case

MALDEN, MA — A Malden man was sentenced on Wednesday in a case where prosecutors said he wielded guns in a music video and shot into a rival gang member's car while on pretrial release for a previous 2019 drug arrest, the US Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts said this week.

Phillips Charles, 22, is now facing 6.5 years in prison and four years of supervised release in connection with what the US Attorney’s Office described as a drug and firearms conspiracy.

Charles plead guilty in April to a charge of conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute 28 grams or more of cocaine base, fentanyl, cocaine, marijuana and other controlled substances. He also pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, the US Attorney’s Office said.

Charles was arrested on state charges back in 2019 in an incident involving crack cocaine, according to the US Attorney’s Office. He served a probation sentence in that case. While on pretrial release, though, the US Attorney’s Office said he “continued to conspire” in a scheme to distribute large quantities of drugs.

Prosecutors said that members of the conspiracy had guns, including guns with “selector switches” that convert guns into machine guns. Those guns were used “to protect the drug trafficking operation and target rival gang members,” the US Attorney’s Office said.

Charles was also seen in a music video posing with guns, according to prosecutors. He at one point was shown pointing one of the guns at the camera, the US Attorney’s Office said.

The US Attorney’s Office said this week that, while still on pretrial release in 2020, Charles got into “a brief encounter” with a rival gang member at the Square One Mall in Saugus. He then followed that man and his family and fired at least seven rounds into their car, the US Attorney’s Office said.

Charles was later arrested and charged in state court with possession of a firearm in December of 2020.

“Mr. Charles repeatedly and flagrantly violated the conditions of his state pretrial release," First Assistant United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy said in a statement this week following Charles' federal sentencing. "Not only did he continue to traffic deadly narcotics on our streets, but he also recklessly wielded deadly firearms – seriously endangering the safety of our communities."

“This first-time federal felon profited from the misery of others who were addicted to the poison he peddled,” Boston FBI Special Agent in Charge Joseph R. Bonavolonta added on Wednesday. “Today’s sentence protects the public from Phillips Charles’ escalating criminal behavior, and his proclivity towards drug dealing, firearms, and violence.”

A multi-agency investigation involved law enforcement agencies across New England, including the Malden Police Department, the Essex, Middlesex and Suffolk County District Attorneys’ Offices, the Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk and Hancock, Maine County Sheriffs’ Departments, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and police from Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Danvers, Everett, Lynn, Malden, Salem, Saugus, Somerville, Revere, Bolton, Maine, Bangor, Maine, Portland, Maine and Westbrook, Maine.