Wayne Christopher Watkins, Synthetic Drug Charges, Iowa 2015

A former employee of Iowa City Pipe Dreamz Head Shop has been sentenced to over 9 years in federal prison for his role in manufacturing and distributing a synthetic drug called AB-FUBINACA.

Wayne Christopher Watkins, 40, of Peoria, Illinois, was sentenced to 115 months’ imprisonment by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade in Cedar Rapids yesterday.

Watkins pleaded guilty on October 8, 2015, to conspiring to manufacture and distribute AB-FUBINACA, a synthetic cannabinoid commonly known as ‘Spice’ or ‘K2.

According to court documents, Watkins began selling and manufacturing smokeable synthetic cannabinoid products shortly after the owner of Pipe Dreamz, Robert Carl Sharp, was released from federal prison in 2012.

Sharp, who had previously been convicted of a federal crime, ordered synthetic cannabinoid chemicals and purchased bulk quantities of dried damiana leaves, a plant material that resembles dried marijuana.

Watkins admitted to diluting the chemical in acetone and spraying the mixture onto the leaves, which were then packaged and sold as incense with a warning that they were ‘not for human consumption.’

However, both Watkins and Sharp knew that the products were actually intended for human consumption, and the synthetic cannabinoids in them had not been tested or approved as safe for human use.

On May 7, 2014, federal law enforcement searched Sharp’s store, his house, and a storage unit in Center Point, as well as Watkins’ house in Cedar Rapids and the Pipe Dreamz store in Iowa City.

During the search, officers seized thousands of synthetic cannabinoid products, including a liquid form of the chemicals designed for use in e-cigarettes.

Watkins was sentenced to 115 months’ imprisonment, a special assessment of $100, and a three-year term of supervised release after his prison term.

The case was investigated by the Iowa City Police Department and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program of the United States through a cooperative effort of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, and other law enforcement agencies.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dan Chatham.

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