WARSAW — A Warsaw man could spend eight years of a nine-year sentence behind bars as a result of multiple drug arrests and a domestic violence incident involving him shooting a firearm at people fleeing in a car.

Aaron Michael Phillips

Aaron Michael Phillips, 36, 1522 Brook View Avenue, Warsaw, was charged with dealing methamphetamine, a level 3 felony; two counts of possession of methamphetamine, a level 5 felony; dealing marijuana, a level 6 felony; possession of marijuana, a class B misdemeanor; battery, a level 6 felony; residential entry, a level 6 felony; invasion of privacy, a class A misdemeanor; criminal recklessness, a level 5 felony, domestic battery, a level 5 felony; and intimidation, a level 5 felony.

Phillips was in Kosciusko County Circuit Court for sentencing Thursday, June 21, for those charges that stemmed from three incidents from Oct. 17, 2016, to Sept. 5, 2017. Since Phillips was due in court for sentencing in both Circuit Court and for two of the charges in Superior Court One, officials consolidated the three cases for sentencing by Circuit Court Judge Michael Reed.

Phillips was arrested in 2016 when on Oct. 17, Warsaw police and county probation officials conducted a home visit at Phillips’ residence located at 1544 West CR 400N, Warsaw. The visit was a followup to one attempted earlier in the day by Indiana Department of Child Services. The visit was a result of a phone call complaining of drug use at the residence.

Police found methamphetamine, marijuana, firearms and paraphernalia.

The defendant found himself again at odds with police on May 9, 2017, when police say he fired shots at a moving vehicles, which caused injury to his then-girlfriend.

Police were called to the Phillips residence on CR 400N and found Phillips at home. Phillips told police that he and his girlfriend had been shooting a firearm earlier in the day and that they later argued and she left the house in a white pickup truck with a male friend.

Police interviewed the girlfriend, the male owner of the pickup truck and a neighbor across the street. All three said that Phillips fired a silver-colored pistol at the truck as it was pulling away. The neighbor said two other males began picking up what he believed was shell casings following the incident. The girlfriend and pickup driver told police that bullets hit the truck and that one of those bullets shattered the passenger side window, which sent fragments of glass into the woman’s face.

On Sept. 5, 2017, police were called to a domestic disturbance and the callers told police that the male involved left in a black vehicle. Police en route to the scene spotted a black vehicle traveling south on CR 150E and executed a traffic stop. Inside the vehicle, police found Phillips as the driver and noted that he had blood on his hands.

Upon arriving at the scene of the original incident, police were told by the woman who reported being struck by flying glass in the May, 2017 shooting incident that Phillips had got into her car uninvited. According to the woman, she drove to a gas station and while there, Phillips got behind the wheel. She got into the passenger side and said that Phillips drove to a residence where he forced himself inside and began battering a man who was sleeping in the house. The police report stated that a child of the battered man hit Phillips in the back with a baseball bat. The woman, Phillips’ ex-girlfriend, gave police permission to search her vehicle, which still had some of Phillips’ possessions in it. While making the search, police found methamphetamine inside a flashlight.

In Circuit Court, Phillips told the judge he had regrets.

“I realize I made some really bad choices,” said Phillips. “I realize they were, for lack of a better word, stupid. I got a drug habit that overtook me and I lost sight of myself and what is right.”

Judge Reed told the defendant he would still have to pay for his crimes, despite showing remorse.”

I hope that what you’re telling me is true,” said Reed. But, when we get down to it, slapping your hand is an unrealistic request.”

Phillips pled guilty to dealing marijuana, one of the counts of methamphetamine possession, battery resulting in moderate bodily injury, residential entry and criminal recklessness. All the other charges were dropped in favor of the guilty plea.

Judge Reed sentenced Phillips to a total of nine years with two of the one-year sentences being concurrent to each other, making the total possible time served as eight years. Reed also told Phillips that if he was compliant, the sentenced could be re-visited in the future.