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Man Sentenced for Role in 2014 Cairo Bank Robbery

Man Sentenced for Role in 2014 Cairo Bank Robbery
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By West Kentucky Star Staff
Mar. 21, 2018 | BENTON, IL
By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 21, 2018 | 05:23 PM | BENTON, IL
A man who pleaded guilty to his part in a Cairo armed robbery that resulted in two deaths has been sentenced.

At U.S. District Court in Benton, IL, on Wednsday, 35-year-old Otha Don Watkins, III, of Cairo, received a 23-year prison sentence. 

In January, Watkins admitted he helped James Nathaniel Watts in the armed robbery of the First National Bank in Cairo in 2014. Watkins helped plan the crime and acted as lookout, communicating with Watts on a hand-held radio. During that robbery, long-time bank employees Anita Grace and Nita Jo Smith were killed and a third employee was seriously injured. 

Watkins' guilty plea included assisting in the robbery, making false statements to the FBI during the investigation, possessing a stolen firearm, and conspiring with Watts to commit robberies that interfered with interstate commerce. The conspiracy included both the attempted robbery of the bank and a 2014 armed robbery of over $12,000 from a McDonald’s restaurant in Charleston, Missouri.

Watkins is already serving a sentence of almost 13 years in prison for the robbery of another McDonald's restaurant in Cape Girardeau. According to information from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Watkins will not finish serving that sentence until 2026, at which time he will begin serving the 23-year sentence he received on Wednesday.

Watts previously pleaded guilty to attempted bank robbery resulting in death, and was sentenced in 2017 to life in prison plus 10 years.
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