JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A Jacksonville man is among twelve people indicted in a massive drone smuggling operation accused of dropping drugs, cellphones and escape tools into federal prisons across the country.<\/p>\n
James Phillips, 51, was named in a 17-count federal indictment unsealed Wednesday in the Middle District of Georgia. <\/p>\n
Authorities say Phillips, a former federal inmate who was once held at FCI Jesup and FCI Talladega, used a smuggled cellphone to help coordinate drone drops at the prison where he was housed. He\u2019s charged with one count of conspiracy to provide contraband in prison and faces up to five years if convicted.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury on June 10, accuses the group of using six drones to make at least 38 drops between September 2023 and May 2026 at 10 prisons in eight states, including Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia.<\/p>\n Investigators say the ringleader, Ira Christopher Jackson, 42, of Macon, ran the operation out of a shuttered daycare center the defendants called \u201cThe Lab,\u201d using it to stash supplies and coordinate with inmates before drops. <\/p>\n Jackson faces the most serious charges, including drug trafficking conspiracies, a felon-in-possession firearm count and evidence tampering, with a maximum penalty of life in prison.<\/p>\n The other ten defendants face a mix of charges tied to the conspiracy, from drug distribution and illegal drone operation to firearms and communication-facilitation offenses. Several face up to life in prison; others face terms as low as five years.<\/p>\n Officials say the dropped contraband included methamphetamine, marijuana and other drugs, along with phones, tobacco and saw blades meant to double as weapons and escape tools. <\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n The Bureau of Prisons\u2019 drone detection system, which tracks a drone\u2019s flight path, launch site and identifying details, helped investigators build the case.<\/p>\n The FBI\u2019s Atlanta office, the Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Transportation\u2019s Office of Inspector General led the investigation, with help from FBI-Jacksonville, DEA-Atlanta, the Georgia Department of Corrections and the Bibb County Sheriff\u2019s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Howard is prosecuting the case.<\/p>\n All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A Jacksonville man is among twelve people indicted in a massive drone smuggling operation accused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,347,11328,15674,132591,132586,36794,132587,28,348,116,351,118,117,97091,103315,349,132589,132588,350,132590,346,345],"class_list":["post-319151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action-news-jax","tag-cbs47","tag-contraband","tag-drone","tag-drone-drops","tag-drone-smuggling","tag-federal-indictment","tag-federal-prisons","tag-florida","tag-fox30","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-fl","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-james-phillips","tag-macon-georgia","tag-northeast-florida","tag-prison-contraband","tag-smuggling-operation","tag-southeast-georgia","tag-the-lab","tag-wfox","tag-wjax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}