Phillip Simmons, 28, of Imperial has been sentenced to seven years in prison after a Jefferson County judge revoked the probation that he received after pleading guilty to a drug charge in 2020. Simmons was arrested for drug possession in 2018 in Arnold, court records show.
Jefferson County Div. 4 Circuit Judge Brenda Stacey on June 24 revoked Simmons’ probation and executed his seven-year sentence. Simmons admitted to violating the residency requirement and not following the reporting and directives of his probation, according to court documents.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Lindsay Whalen prosecuted the case.
Simmons was arrested in March 2018 at the Lowe’s home improvement store, 920 Arnold Commons, in Arnold. Officers had been called because another man was seen nodding off behind the wheel of a GMC cargo van parked outside the store, according to the case’s probable-cause statement.
Officers found three packages containing a total of 43 pills in the pockets of the man who was in the GMC’s driver’s seat.
Simmons had come out of the store and walked to the van after officers arrived. He continued to reach into his pockets while talking to one of the officers, and he then pulled out a syringe and a package that had 12 pills inside it when the officer asked him what was in his pockets, the report said.
Simmons was arrested, and when the pills were tested, the contents were verified to be fentanyl, according to the report.
The Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Simmons in March 2019 with possession of a controlled substance. He pleaded guilty in January 2020, but the judge at that time suspended the imposition of the sentence and placed Simmons on five years’ probation, court records said.
In August 2023, Simmons’ probation was revoked, but the judge suspended the execution of his sentence and put Simmons back on probation, court documents show.