Pennsylvania State News by River Lange-Wright
Acting Pennsylvania United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Darnell Jackson, a/k/a “Major Change,” 47, of Philadelphia, PA, 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, the defendant:
- Orchestrated a murder-for-hire plot that stemmed from an ongoing state drug trafficking investigation.
- One week ago on Monday, July 19, 2021, and in the days immediately following, Jackson allegedly communicated with an individual via cell phone calls and text messages in an effort to arrange the killing of the intended victim.
- Sent 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, the defendant 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 vicinity of 65th Street & Guyer Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia, and he was allegedly found in possession of a Glock-style Personally Manufactured Firearm (PMF or ‘ghost gun’) loaded with 16 live rounds of ammunition, and nowhere near the amount of $5,000.
The defendant was immediately arrested and taken into custody pursuant to the Criminal Complaint; he made his initial appearance in federal court on Friday, July 23, and will appear before Pennsylvania U.S. Magistrate Judge Perkin for a detention hearing on Tuesday, August 3.