Tennessee Man Sentenced 144 Months for Marijuana, Money Laundering Conspiracies

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Morris Anthoney Phillips, 39, of Culver City, California, has been sentenced to 144 months in federal prison for his leadership role in an extensive marijuana and money laundering distribution conspiracy centered in the Eastern District of Tennessee and the Western District of Virginia.

Phillips was the primary source of supply responsible for the distribution of marijuana from the Los Angeles, California area to Tennessee and Virginia. According to the plea agreement on file with the U.S. District Court Clerk, Phillips admitted that he was accountable for at least 954 kilograms of marijuana.

In July 2011, law enforcement officers coordinated a 500 pound marijuana reversal operation with Phillips in California. Upon weighing the marijuana, it turned out to be 562 pounds, instead of 500 pounds. Phillips sent another individual to retrieve the money for the additional 62 pounds of marijuana. Officers subsequently knocked on the door of Phillips’ residence and he attempted to flee. A search warrant was executed which resulted in the seizure of 562 pounds of marijuana, packaging materials, two .40 caliber pistol magazines, a black holster, and a paper bag with $11,000 in U.S. currency.

A search warrant was then obtained for the address in Burbank, where Phillips’ co-conspirator went to get additional monies for the remaining marijuana, and which was operated as a stash house. A search of that residence revealed $249,015.00 in two suitcases. One of these suitcases had a hidden compartment built into it to hide the money. Another suitcase contained $519,920.00 in cash. A black bag was also found in the residence containing $70,700.00. In total, approximately 1.2 million dollars was seized from the residences and vehicles searched at the Los Angeles and Burbank addresses.

Phillips took over dealing to his Tennessee co-conspirators in approximately 2010 after their former Jamaican source of supply was deported back to Jamaica. Phillips flew from Los Angeles to either Nashville or Knoxville on at least 14 separate occasions dating back to March 2012 to meet with co-defendants Glenn Draughn, 69, and James Wright, 59, both of Kingsport, Tenn., and pick up bulk cash for drugs he was delivering to them and others. By 2013, Phillips involved his brother, co-defendant Antonio Barrington Parsley, 24, of Culver City, Cal., in the criminal conspiracies and introduced him to Draughn and Wright, among others.

In July 2014, Parsley, Wright and Draughn were all arrested in Nashville, Tenn., at a meeting in a local motel room near the airport. A search of the motel room resulted in the seizure of approximately $100,000.00 in cash, which was payment for another marijuana shipment from California to Tennessee, in addition to $10,500.00 for approximately 100 oxycodone pills. The pills had been hidden in a Skittles candy bag, re-sealed and placed inside Parsley’s suitcase.

Others who have been previously sentenced in this prosecution include Draughn, Parsley, Larry Williams, 68, of Mendota, Va., and Kenny Russell, 57, of Kingsport, Tenn.

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