Rueben Phill’s gun
EMERYVILLE – An ex-convict working for a restaurant home-delivery service was arrested by a patrol officer last Friday—for carrying a semi-automatic pistol and controlled substances.
A patrol officer was doing a routine security check to deter car break-ins at a parking lot shortly before 5:30 a.m., when a man suddenly walked away from a parked car as the officer approached him, outside Denny’s restaurant at 1776 Powell Street.
substances confiscated from Phill
The officer became suspicious that a crime may have been in progress, and hurried to catch up with and speak with the man.
A police records check quickly revealed that he’d been convicted of attempted murder in 2005, but he was released from prison on parole—making him subject to police searches.
The officer immediately conducted a parolee compliance search. That’s when a semi-automatic pistol was found hidden in the man’s waistband, and several bottles inside his vehicle—including a controlled substance—a cough syrup—lacking a required prescription.
The man, Rueben P. Phill, a 33-year-old resident of Berkeley, was transported to Glenn Dyer Jail on December 1, where he was booked on multiple charges at 9:02 a.m., including serious parole violations that could return him to state prison.
Phill faces charges of being an addict in possession of firearm, felon carrying a loaded firearm, carrying a concealed firearm, carrying a loaded firearm when not the registered owner; and one charge for the manufacture, import, or sale of a large-capacity magazine.
Phill is scheduled to appear for a plea hearing on December 18 at the Rene C. Davidson Alameda County Courthouse.
