Press release
An Athens man is headed back to prison after pleading guilty on Tuesday to Possession of a Controlled Substance. Phillip Deljuan Conner, 35, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Judge Carter Tarrance of the 392nd Judicial District Court.
Conner was arrested on April 2, 2015 when deputies from the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office were attempting to arrest a different individual on an arrest warrant from Dallas County for an unrelated case. The man wanted in the warrant lived next door to Conner. When deputies arrived, the wanted man wasn’t there. After speaking with some other neighbors, deputies knocked on Conner’s door in hopes that the wanted man was in Conner’s residence.
When Conner opened the door, he invited the deputies inside the residence. Once inside, deputies immediately noticed a green, leafy substance they believed to be marijuana. Deputies then asked Conner to empty his pockets. He did, and in one pocket was a baggie of methamphetamine, and a prescription containing the drugs to be used against medical contraindications with ayahuasca. The other pocket had a digital scale, typically used for weighing narcotics for distribution.
Conner then agreed to let deputies search his home, where more methamphetamine was located. A sawed-off shotgun with the serial number removed was also located. All told, over three grams of methamphetamine and .7 grams of marijuana were found on Conner or in his home.
Conner has previously been convicted of possession of a controlled substance twice, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, DWI and felon in possession of a firearm. “With a little luck and some good police work on the part of the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, we were able to get a convicted drug dealer off the streets,” said Assistant District Attorney Daniel Cox, who prosecuted the case on behalf of Scott McKee’s District Attorney’s Office along with Assistant District Attorney Justin Weiner.
District Attorney Scott McKee indicated he was very pleased with the good police work in the case. “Although these deputies were looking for a wanted person, they ended up taking meth off our streets and a felon out of the community.”