Rockford Man Sentenced to 90 Months for Methamphetamine Trafficking

MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Vincent Phillips, 52, Rockford, Illinois was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 90 months for possessing with intent to distribute and distributing 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.  Phillips pleaded guilty to these charges on July 21, 2023. This period of imprisonment will be followed by 5 years of supervised release.

Phillips was first arrested for charges related to this case on February 18, 2023, in Columbia County, Wisconsin with over 240 grams of methamphetamine packaged for distribution found in his vehicle. Officers also found drug paraphernalia, including a scale, razor, and baggies in the car. Phillips was charged in State court for this conduct and released from jail on a cash bond later that month.

In April, a confidential informant disclosed to law enforcement that Phillips was selling methamphetamine and heroin in the Baraboo area. Law enforcement conducted three controlled buys from Phillips using this confidential informant. Phillips sold about 50 grams of methamphetamine during each buy. After the last buy, which Phillips conducted inside his vehicle, law enforcement arrested him.

When he was arrested in April, officers found over 200 grams of methamphetamine and 38 grams of cocaine in his vehicle. In addition, Phillips was in possession of $2,297 in U.S. currency, $800 of which had been provided by law enforcement to the confidential informant to purchase drugs from Phillips.

At sentencing, the Judge considered Phillips’s lengthy criminal history. The Judge addressed that Phillips has been in and out of prison for most of his adult life, and that he is considered a career offender. The Judge remarked that previous intervention had done little to deter Phillips’s criminal conduct. The Judge ultimately ordered a sentence that he felt reflected the seriousness of Philips’s criminal history and his conduct in these offenses.

This is Phillips’s second federal conviction. In 2002, Phillips was convicted in the Northern District of Illinois for an armed bank robbery and was sentenced to prison.

The charges against Phillips were the result of an investigation conducted by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Ginsberg prosecuted this case.