Published: May 29, 2008 09:37 am      

Arlington man pleads guilty to drug charge

Staff Report

With a jury waiting in the hall to hear his case, a 27-year-old Arlington man entered a guilty plea to a narcotics charge and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the 415th District Court in Weatherford on Tuesday.

Charles King Watson was convicted of possession of cocaine with intent to deliver in connection with a February 2007 sting operation at a Willow Park hotel.

The case began when Weatherford/Parker County Special Crimes Unit officers received a tip about narcotics activity at the hotel.

With the use of an informant, officers contacted the source of the narcotics and arranged for the purchase of additional cocaine. Shortly after Watson brought the “8-ball,” or one-eighth of an ounce of cocaine into the hotel room for the sale to take place, he was arrested.

When Watson was booked into the Parker County Jail, jail staff found another baggie of cocaine in his underwear. In total, Watson was in possession of more than four grams of cocaine on the date of the offense.

“One of the factors that resulted in the lengthy sentence in this case was the fact Watson was on parole from Oklahoma for two felony drug offenses at the time of the crime here in Parker County,” said Parker County Assistant District Attorney Jeff Swain. “When the officers were trying to read him his Miranda warnings, this defendant told them that he was “an old pro” at dealing with the police and that all he would get was rehab. When a drug dealer has been through the system and in and out of prison and still has that mentality, I think a long penitentiary sentence is necessary.”

Assistant District Attorney Abigail Placke prosecuted the case for the state. District Judge Graham Quisenberry presided over the case. Kyle Claunch represented Watson.

Claunch declined to comment about the sentence or his client.

“It was a pretty clear cut situation,” Claunch said. “I really don’t have anything to say about it.”

Watson’s original charges out of Oklahoma included driving while intoxicated, failure to appear, driving while license invalid, failure to carry security certification and transporting an open container. A no bond was placed on Watson for the out-of-state charges.

Watson’s other charges included tampering/fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair, two charges of possession of a controlled substance and manufacturing/delivery of a controlled substance.