OCALA, Fla. – A lack of common courtesy at a convenience store has a repeat offender back behind bars. It’s the latest chapter in a saga that includes probation violations and bench warrants, and several cases going on at once.
Police officers in Florida said the victim and her two friends had gone for snacks on Sept. 24 and they saw Bria Janiya Watkins “at the register, checking out.
“[The victim] and her friends were standing to the right of Watkins, looking at ‘hot sausages,’” the arrest report said, “[when] Watkins walked past them towards the back of the store and had bumped into them and an older gentleman behind them. [The victim] advised Watkins apologized to the older gentleman for bumping him.
“One of [the victim’s] friends stated she heard Watkins say, ‘imma do this again’ before walking past [the victim] and her friends again. [The victim] stated when Watkins walked past them again, she bumped into them harder with her shoulder. One of [the victim’s] friends advised she said to Watkins, ‘you coulda said excuse me.’ Watkins then engaged in a physical altercation with[ the victim] but [the victim] was unable to recall the details.”
An officer wrote a store employee “saw a female he knew as ‘Bri’ bumping into other patrons in the store. [The employee] advised he saw a physical altercation between ‘Bri’ and a group of females in the store. The area by the register was left in disarray, as there was candy and pieces of hair on the ground.
“[The employee] was able to show me video footage of the incident. The video showed Watkins standing at the register as [the victim] and her friends walk by and go to the area to the right of the register. Watkins then walks past [the victim] first and then [the victim’s] friend, going toward the back of the store. A few moments later, Watkins walks back towards the front of the store, passing [the victim] and her friend. Watkins bumps into the right side of [the victim] with her shoulder as [the victim] was facing the counter. [The victim] puts her right arm back and Watkins pushes [the victim] into the counter. The two begins striking each other. One of [the victim’s] friends breaks up the altercation and Watkins exits the store.”
Both Watkins and the victim were reportedly hurt. Watkins was arrested for simple battery, but she was on felony probation at the time, which affected some of her other cases.
Watkins Judgment & Sentence, Oct. 28, 2024 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
After a month in jail, she changed her plea to guilty, and she was sentenced to four months in jail, minus the month served, plus fines and costs.
Her trouble started more than six years ago with a misdemeanor charge but repercussions continue to this day. That Notice to Appear was short and hand-written.
On July 31, 2018, a police officer “patrolling on foot” saw three people “sitting in front” of a home.
He walked closer and saw “Watkins concealed something under her leg. Watkins was asked what she concealed under her leg and she advised marijuana,” the officer wrote. “Watkins was detained in handcuffs and a cigar containing a green leafy substance was collected. The green leafy substance test field-tested positive for marijuana. Watkins was placed under arrest.”
Watkins was charged with possession of cannabis less than 20 grams and released after about 36 hours in jail, but she didn’t make it to court on Aug. 13. That was a mistake, and the judge put out a bench warrant.
Watkins was arrested again on Aug. 29 and she spent three days in jail, until she bonded out.
Watkins Judgment & Sentence, Oct. 15, 2018 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
In mid-October, she changed her plea and was sentenced to time served in jail, six months of probation, 15 community service hours, and court costs.
Unfortunately for Watkins, she made another mistake by violating her probation. She “failed to complete random [drug] screens on 11/8/2018, 12/27/2018, 1/25/2019, 2/25/2019, and 3/7/2019,” the March 14 report said, and “failed to complete her monetary and non-monetary conditions of probation in a timely manner.” That included community service. The report said she owed $649.50, and the probation counselor recommended her probation be revoked.
Sure enough, the judge put out a bench warrant and it took until Sept. 4, 2019 – more than a year after her misdemeanor marijuana charge – but Watkins was arrested a third time.
Watkins Judgment & Sentence, Oct. 11, 2019 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
She spent almost two months in jail until she was sentenced, yet again, to 60 days in jail with 42 days served, her driver’s license revoked for a year, and old and new “monetary obligations” of $2,850 paid within 90 days.
Years later, her debt was sent to collections and the status of the case is “delinquent” rather than closed.
The year 2023 was also not a good one for Watkins but she lucked out in her first run-in with the law.
The affidavit said on Feb. 4, a man told sheriff’s deputies he met Watkins at a convenience store and
he brought her “back to his camper for her to do his laundry in exchange for her staying the night. The victim advised he woke up [time] and realized the suspect was not at the location anymore. The reportee also stated that his [car] was stolen.”
That evening, a police officer found Watkins driving the car and conducted a traffic stop.
The passenger reportedly said “he was unaware the vehicle was stolen. He advised he had never seen the suspect with the vehicle before today. He advised the suspect stated she was borrowing the vehicle from ‘Benny.’ And the document said, “The suspect advised she was at ‘Benny’s’ house last night. She advised after he was asleep, ‘Benny’ told her ‘in her head’ she could borrow the vehicle. She stated Benny did not tell her with his mouth. She advised she left Benny’s residence with the vehicle this morning. She did not wish to provide any more information.”
But there was a bit more.
Authorities tried to reach the owner, whose name was not Benny. “He advised he was unable to answer my calls due to the suspect taking his phone. He advised the phone was on the nightstand near his bed when he went to bed last night, and was gone when he woke up this morning. The victim provided a description of his phone [including] a crack in the middle of the right side,” and it was found in the driver’s seat.
Watkins was charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle and petit theft $100-$750 but 24 days later, prosecutors decided not to pursue the case and Watkins got out of jail.
She’d stay free a few months until June, and two incidents in three days.
In the first, a Notice to Appear on June 9 said a police officer saw Watkins and two other people entering a park at 4:30 a.m. when it was closed. “Requests were made to speak,” but she “ignored” them. “Assisting officers located Watkins as she was leaving the scene,” and she reportedly “ran. Watkins further resisted efforts to put her in handcuffs, and force was used.”
She was arrested and charged with trespassing after hours and resisting without violence.
Watkins Judgment & Sentence, June 21, 2023 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
On June 21, she pleaded no contest and was sentenced to court costs and a suspended driver’s license until paid.
But Watkins was arrested shortly after trespassing in the park on a more serious drug charge.
On June 12, a police officer reported seeing her with something similar to earlier: “what appeared to be a hand rolled cigar in her right hand.” That case is still going on to this day.
“I approached Watkins,” the officer wrote, “and observed the end of the blunt to have a white powder substance inside it, which I believed to be a controlled substance. I observed the powder to be falling out of the cigar due to there being so much inside. Watkins was placed in handcuffs and the interior of the cigar was opened. I observed the contents to be more white powder,” and it reportedly field-tested positive for MDPV.
“Watkins stated she did not know the powder was inside the cigar due to just having picked it up from a nearby residence. Watkins then stated she hand-rolled the cigar herself but did not put the white powder inside it. Watkins admitted that once she rolled the cigar, she walked directly into the field where I made contact with her, indicating she must have been the one who put the powder in the blunt. Watkins then claimed she was bringing the cigar to someone else.”
Watkins spent almost two months in jail, until Aug. 4, but her bond was revoked after her third arrest of 2023, on Oct. 24. This case was also reopened twice in 2024.
Watkins Court Minutes, Nov. 27, 2023 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
Watkins changed her plea in this case to no contest and on Nov. 27 was sentenced to credit for time served and two years of probation. But she quickly violated it by “failing to report to the probation officer” twice, and moving “without first procuring the consent of the probation officer,” the Dec. 13 affidavit said.
Once again, that series of mistakes led to a bench warrant.
Watkins Court Minutes, June 20, 2024 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
Watkins was arrested on separate charges on March 21, 2024, her bond for the MDPV was revoked while she was in jail, but on June 20, 2024, she admitted her probation violations and was… put back on probation.
Watkins’ arrest on Oct. 24, 2023, mentioned earlier, started with trespassing at a house.
A property manager arrived “do some renovations,” the arrest report said, but “observed the A/C unit to be running.” Also, “The back door knob was broken off and pry marks were on the door jamb.”
Watkins and another person, apparently a cousin, were found in a bedroom, “lying on a mattress, with a chair pushed up against the inside of the door as a barricade.” Authorities also reported finding “a bag of loose tobacco, multiple cigar cellophane wrappers, blunt remnants, [a] burnt straw, and butane lighters. Inside three of the cigar wrappers was white powdery substance.
“I observed a 9 mm round in clear view on top of the dresser,” an officer wrote. “I field-tested the white powdery substance which was presumptive positive for MDPV, a controlled substance.” Also, inside a backpack, “I located a small digital scale with white powdery residue on it and a plethora of small red zip lock bags consistent with drug packaging.”
Watkins Court Minutes, Nov. 27, 2023 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
On Nov. 27, the same day Watkins was sentenced on other charges, she pleaded no contest to charges of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and trespassing, and the judge convicted her of possession of drug equipment.
Then, she was sentenced to time served and… two more years of probation. And she violated that probation weeks later, not reporting and moving without permission, as above.
Watkins got into more trouble on Jan. 26, 2024, but it wasn’t until Feb. 3 a man reported the theft of his $500 scooter from his bedroom, and he really didn’t want to do it.
“[The accuser] advised he has raised Bria since she was 11,” the affidavit said, “but she is not his biological daughter. He said that she sometimes sleeps at his home and he allows her to use the scooter when she asks, but she always brings it back. He advised he did not give her permission to enter his bedroom and steal the scooter during this incident.”
On Jan. 26, he “allowed Watkins to stay” but the next morning, “he noticed Watkins was gone and his scooter was also gone. … When Watkins visits, she sleeps on the floor next to his bed and the scooter is on the other side of the bed.”
He went to her home to discuss the missing scooter “but was advised that she was kicked out of the location. … [He] started [her brother] told him Watkins was with him a few days ago and she had sold the scooter to buy Molly.
“I asked [the victim] why he waited a week to report the stolen scooter and he advised that he was giving Watkins the chance to bring it back to him.”
But a detective reportedly heard a different story, that the victim said Watkins “was visiting with her grandmother. She left the scooter on her porch and her brother [name] stole it. He advised Bria was fleeing the state with [a man] and he did not know where she was moving to.”
Regardless of where she was, Watkins was arrested on a bench warrant on March 21, 2024. She was charged with grand theft $100-$750 and spent four months in jail.
Watkins Court Minutes, June 20, 2024 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
Then, on June 20 – again, the day of her sentencing in another case – she pleaded no contest and sentenced to time served and… two years of probation.
At the time of Watkins’ March 21 arrest on “two felony warrants,” cops met near her home “to formulate a plan,” but instead saw her walking on the street.
“She stated her name was not Bria,” one of the officers wrote, “and that it was [something else]. I told Watkins to place her hands behind her back so I could detain her. Watkins refused and began to resist. Watkins pulled her arms away numerous times and tensed her arms. [A second officer] and I forcefully brought her to the ground. Once on the ground, [a third officer] then assisted with securing her in handcuffs. Watkins continued to shake and pull away, even after being placed into cuffs, and faked having a seizure.
“I asked Watkins multiple times to tell me her real name and she refused, continuously using the alias [name]. Once her warrants were confirmed, she was asked to get up and sit in the back of the patrol car, so she could be transported to the jail. Watkins continuously refused, despite our efforts of trying to forcefully place her in the back of a car.
“The [restraint device] WRAP was utilized and Watkins was subdued,” and she “was positively identified at the jail when her fingerprints were scanned.”
Watkins was charged with giving a false name to law enforcement and resisting without violence, plus charges from the two warrants, and she spent almost four months in jail.
Watkins Judgment & Sentence, July 16, 2024 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
On July 16, she changed her pleas on the new charges to no contest, and was sentenced to 60 days served for each. Probation was not part of this sentence.
Watkins, 25, could’ve been free to this day if it wasn’t for bad behavior at the convenience store. The charge of simple battery isn’t her problem. As she undoubtedly knows, breaking the law is a probation violation, so the damage was done.
She’s behind bars because of her earlier cases.
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