Otha Don Watkins, III, Bank Armed Robbery Attempt, Illinois 2014

BANK ROBBERY LEAVES DEATH AND DESTRUCTION

Otha Don Watkins, III, 35, a Cairo native, has been found guilty of a heinous crime that shook the small town of Cairo, Illinois. Watkins pled guilty to assisting James Nathanial Watts in the May 15, 2014, attempted armed robbery of the First National Bank in Cairo.

The botched robbery ended in tragedy, resulting in the deaths of long-time bank employees Anita Grace and Nita Jo Smith. A third employee was left seriously injured in the chaos.

Watkins’ guilty plea also encompasses charges of making false statements to the FBI during their investigation into the attempted bank robbery. He also admitted to possessing a stolen firearm and conspiring with Watts to commit robberies that impacted interstate commerce.

The conspiracy, which involved both the attempted bank robbery and a successful armed robbery of over $12,000 from a McDonald’s restaurant in Charleston, Missouri, has been linked to James Watts. Watts previously pled guilty to the attempted bank robbery and was sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years in May 2017.

Watkins, who is already serving a 155-month federal prison sentence for the armed robbery of another McDonald’s restaurant in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in October 2014, will face sentencing in this case on March 21, 2018. He was returned to the custody of the United States Marshal to await sentencing.

The investigation into this case was a collaborative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Illinois State Police, with assistance from numerous other law enforcement agencies in Illinois and Missouri.

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