Milledgeville man gets 14 years in Lee, Carroll County drug, child porn charges

DIXON – A Milledgeville man – also a registered sexual and violent predator – was sentenced to four years in prison, in one case for possessing child pornography, and in the other for selling methamphetamine.

Given his recent sentences in three Carroll County cases, however, he actually is looking at a 14-year stretch with the Department of Corrections.

Casey W. Phillips, 36, previously of Lanark, Polo, Oregon and Forreston, was sentenced in Lee County Court a year and a day after his arrest on May 3, 2023, on multiple warrants issued in Carroll County.

According to the charging documents, Phillips, who was jailed on $500,000 bond since his arrest, was the subject of a Dixon police drug investigation.

He originally was charged with delivery of less than five grams methamphetamine, which carries three to seven years, and with possession of less than five grams, punishable by two to five years.

Further investigation led to the second case, in which he was charged with two counts of of possession of child pornography and indecent solicitation of a child, both of which carry two to five years, and indecent solicitation of child by means of the internet, punishable by one to three years, the release said.

All but the two charges for which he was convicted were dismissed as part of a plea agreement, and he was sentenced May 4 to four years on each, with the terms to run concurrently.

Investigators said Phillips solicited a 15-year-old girl for sex, and possessed lewd photos of her.

In Carroll County, Phillips was charged in eight felony cases involving a variety of offenses.

He was sentenced Sept. 27 to six years, with credit for 154 days served, for producing 50 to 200 cannabis plants in a 2020 case. Manufacturing and possession of cannabis charges were dismissed.

He was given four years in prison for possession of meth in a 2021 case, with credit for 257 days served, with that term to run consecutively to the cannabis sentence, for a total term of 10 years.

He also was sentenced to four years for failure to register as a sex offender, with credit for 154 days served, which will run concurrently with the other two terms.

As part his plea agreement, the other five cases involving three counts of possession of meth, one of possession of a controlled substance and one of failure to register, were dismissed.

Phillips’ Lee County sentences of four years total will run consecutively to the Carroll County cases, for a 14-year term altogether.

In 2018, Phillips was convicted in Lee County of aggravated sexual abuse of a child 13 to 16 and failure to register as violent offender.

His victim was 16 and he was 26.

He was convicted in 2014 in Lee County of aggravated sexual abuse of a victim more than 5 years younger than he, and was sentenced to three years.

Phillips was charged that same year in Ogle County with failure to register as a violent offender and was sentenced to two years’ conditional discharge, but he violated his probation and was sentenced June 30, 2015, to three years in prison.