Former Madison County deputy extradited to North Carolina on multiple charges

Bronis Coy Phillips, the former Madison County chief deputy, was extradited from Arizona and processed back into North Carolina custody on Thursday, June 25, 2026. Court records show a $1.5 million bond, and Phillips remains jailed at the Avery County Detention Center.

Phillips, 41, of Mars Hill, was arrested in Maricopa County, Arizona, on June 14, 2026, and had been held without bond before his return to North Carolina. Newly unsealed indictments place the alleged misconduct between July 1 and Sept. 15, 2025, while Phillips was employed by the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.

The charges include furnishing controlled substances to inmates, furnishing deadly weapons to inmates, felony involuntary servitude, two counts of assault with a firearm on a detention facility employee, furnishing alcoholic beverages to inmates and furnishing tobacco products to inmates. The indictments accuse Phillips of pointing a pistol at one detention employee’s chest and another employee’s head, giving an inmate Vyvanse, alcohol, tobacco and an AR-15-style rifle, and taking the inmate to his home to force him to work.

That Phillips previously served as second-in-command in the Madison County Sheriff’s Office gives the case a wider reach than a routine arrest. Madison County borders Buncombe County, and the allegations sit at the center of how law-enforcement agencies police their own ranks, especially when the accusations involve detention staff, a detainee and weapons inside the justice system.

The published reports do not include a public response from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office or the Madison County District Attorney’s Office. Phillips’ return to North Carolina now shifts the case into local courts, where the allegations will be tested against the indictment record and any evidence gathered by investigators.