Vista

A federal grand jury on Tuesday added a weapons count carrying a heavy penalty to the long list of charges against Mark Raymond Phelps, the Vista man jailed in connection with the wounding of one San Diego County sheriff’s deputy and an attack on another deputy during drug-related shoot-outs five weeks ago.

Phelps, 28, would face a mandatory 10-year prison sentence if convicted of the charge of using a machine gun in the course of a conspiracy to manufacture and possess methamphetamine. He and a co-defendant, Raymond Turnipseed, are the first persons charged in San Diego County with the mandatory prison-time offense, a provision of a new federal firearms law that took effect last year, according to U.S. Atty. Peter K. Nunez.

Besides the drug and weapons charges in federal court, Phelps faces state charges of attempted murder in the wounding of Deputy James Bennetts during a shoot-out July 31 and a shooting attack on Deputy Alfred Mackrille, who arrested Phelps Aug. 2 in San Marcos.