|
| |
Pair found guilty on drug
charges
April 9, 2011
By CHRISTOPHER BOBBY - reporter
(cbobby@tribtoday.com)
Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com
|
WARREN - A man and woman from Warren, who prosecutors say imported a sizable
quantity of cocaine and heroin from Detroit, were found guilty Friday of
drug charges and could face enhanced prison sentences from a judge later
this month.
A jury of four men and eight women spent most of Friday afternoon
deliberating before finding Frederick Johnson and his one-time girlfriend,
Brandi Lynn Watson, both of Wallace Street S.E., guilty of first- and
second-degree felony charges of heroin and cocaine possession. Judge Peter
Kontos heard the case.
Assistant county prosecutor Chris Becker said Johnson, 40, who previously
served prison time for drugs, faces more than a 30-year maximum sentence,
and Watson, 27, faces more than 25 years. Kontos set sentencing for April
25.
Becker told jurors how, although agents with Trumbull Ashtabula Group Law
Enforcement Task Force were already investigating Johnson and Watson, it was
a high-speed chase through Warren Jan. 15, 2010, that broke the case open.
Becker said TAG agents had two places under surveillance and were following
a car carrying both defendants, a .40 caliber Glock pistol, nearly 400 grams
of heroin and 4.5 ounces of cocaine when the chase started through the east
side, sometimes reaching speeds of 70 mph.
At one point on Porter Street N.E., the car driven by Johnson rammed an
undercover car driven by a TAG agent.
The drugs and the gun were thrown out of the car and later recovered by
police, and both suspects escaped from the vehicle on Belvedere Avenue,
running in different directions. Watson was arrested later that night in a
garage on Atlantic Street, and Johnson turned himself into his parole
officer in Liberty within a couple days.
Although Johnson did not testify, Watson took the witnesses stand Thursday,
attempting to convince jurors that Kenneth Cook, an informant in the case,
was the one driving the car. Her statements contradicted an unrecorded
statement she made to TAG Detective Fred Raines and a federal agent several
hours after the chase.
Cook is a mechanic who had borrowed money from Johnson to start a business
and who has pleaded guilty to a drug charge and agreed to cooperate with
prosecutors.
Becker praised all TAG agents, including Raines and lead investigator Rick
Tackett.
|
|
