Digital Forensics Dispatch

Cellphone Evidence Leads to Gun Trafficking Charge

September 24, 2020

Tom Loewy of the Quad-City Times reports that a Davenport man who was originally charged with two misdemeanors now faces a felony charge for the possession of a stolen handgun. Ray Watkins was arrested and charged with an aggravated misdemeanor of carrying weapons and possession of marijuana. The charges stem from police seeing Watkins in a Davenport park with a loaded gun. They conducted a traffic stop of Watkins’ vehicle where they found the marijuana on his lap and through a search of the vehicle found a loaded Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol under the driver seat.

Officers had determined that the gun found in the vehicle was reported stolen by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department on September 10, 2019. The Davenport Police obtained a search warrant for Watkin’s phone and recovered evidence that led to the addition of the felony charge. Photo and video evidence on the phone showed the accused in possession of the firearm. Additionally, they found a video on the phone that displayed the gun on Watkin’s lap just 12 minutes before officers had made contact.

In this case, the possession of the stolen firearm is considered trafficking. Watkins is currently being held in jail on a $5,000 bond and the preliminary hearing is scheduled for Friday September 25, 2020.

Email:    Phone: 703.359.0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
https://senseient.com/services/digital-forensics