Philly Man Charged In Murder-For-Hire Plot: Feds

Philadelphia PA

27 July, 2021

11:27 AM

Description

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia man is facing murder-for-hire charges after federal authorities said he tried to have someone killed. Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said Darnell Jackson, a/k/a "Major Change," 47, of Philadelphia, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint on federal charges of murder-for-hire and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. According to publicly filed court documents unsealed Monday, Jackson is accused of orchestrated a murder-for-hire plot which stemmed from an ongoing state drug trafficking investigation On Monday, July 19, and in the days immediately following, Jackson is alleged to have communicated with an individual via cell phone calls and text messages in an effort to arrange the killing of a different individual — the intended victim — sending a photo of the intended victim and indicating that he was willing to pay $5,000 to someone to commit the murder. Jackson also allegedly mentioned to the individual that he was interested in locating the close friends of the intended victim so that they could be harmed as well. Once the individual reported to the defendant that he had located the intended victim, they allegedly agreed that the killing would occur on the evening of Wednesday, July 21st. That same evening, the individual called Jackson to report that the intended victim had been killed, but this was actually false. In response, Jackson allegedly replied that he was on his way to meet the individual in order to pay him for his services. A few minutes later, Jackson was stopped by law enforcement while driving a vehicle in the area of 65th Street and Guyer Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia. Authorities aid he was in possession of a Glock-style Personally Manufactured Firearm — commonly referred to as a "ghost gun" — loaded with 16 live rounds of ammunition, and nowhere near the amount of $5,000. Jackson was immediately arrested and taken into custody pursuant to the Criminal Complaint; he made his initial appearance in federal court on Friday and will appear for a detention hearing on Aug. 3. "It is no stretch of the imagination to conclude that law enforcement thwarted multiple alleged attempted murders by the defendant last week," Williams said. "But there are hundreds of families in this city for whom this news means very little, because their loved ones were already gunned down this year. I want to thank the dedicated men and women of the FBI and Philadelphia Police Department who were responsible for taking Jackson off the streets, and I want to assure the public that we will continue to do all we can to fight the surge of violence plaguing our city." If convicted, Jackson faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison — 10 years for each charge.