An Arnold fentanyl dealer who led police on a Route 28 chase with a child in the backseat and was formerly implicated in a murder plot with his brothers is headed to federal prison for two decades.
U.S. District Judge W. Scott Hardy imposed that term Monday on Kevin Watson, 33.
Watson went on trial in U.S. District Court in 2021 and was convicted on counts of possession with intent to deliver 480 grams of fentanyl and heroin after troopers found it in his trunk after he crashed his car and bailed.
The case began on April 26, 2019, when a state trooper stopped Watson’s Lincoln Continental on Route 28 for having tinted windows.
The trooper smelled marijuana and saw that Watson’s eyes were bloodshot. He also saw a 4-year-old in a child seat.
He ordered Watson out. Watson got angry and refused to unlock his doors. He claimed cops had beaten him before. So he tried to call his lawyer and started recording what was happening on Facebook Live.
The trooper called for help. When a second trooper pulled up, Watson became even more agitated. As he put his key in the ignition, the second trooper tried to open the door to grab the child. Watson then sped off heading north.
Troopers pursued him on Route 28. At one point the speeds reached 115 mph as Watson weaved through traffic. He finally veered off at the Tarentum exit, lost control and hit a pole. He jumped out and ran, leaving the child behind.
Troopers chased him down and zapped him with a Taser, after which a helicopter flew him to Allegheny General Hospital for crash injuries. The child was not hurt.
A search of the Lincoln turned up bags marked “Blue Magic,” each containing bricks of heroin and fentanyl.
The total amount came to 480 grams worth some $100,000.
In asking for a sentence of 30 years to life, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Conway recounted Watson’s history of deceit before, during and after his federal trial.
“Throughout the entirety of the litigation the defendant has revealed himself to be fundamentally dishonest and willing to lie to the Court and the jury to avoid the consequences of his actions,” he said. “He has shown no remorse, no respect for the law or the Court, and no indication that he has any inclination to change the trajectory of the destructive course he has set for this life. There is no indication that there is hope for rehabilitation.”
He also recounted Watson’s criminal history, including drug convictions and the murder plot in 2009.
Conway said Watson was part of the scheme with his brothers, Luzay Watson and Charles Cabiness.
In May 2009, he said, Luzay Watson murdered Davon Young. Police arrested him on June 4 of that year. At a preliminary hearing in July, a witness named Monique Gray testified.
After the hearing, Luzay had a series of recorded phone calls from jail with Kevin Watson during which Luzay encouraged Kevin to kill Gray. In other calls that summer, Luzay angrily complained to his girlfriend and to Kevin that no one was doing anything to kill the witness.
Kevin assured him the witness would be taken care of, Conway said.
In one call, Luzay’s girlfriend, Chrissy Stubbs, told Luzay that Charles Cabiness, another of the Watson brothers, was “posted up” near the Cresswell Street home of Monique Gray’s sister, Donneika Gray, to wait for an opportunity to kill Monique if she visited her sister.
That opportunity arrived on Aug. 22, when Cabiness murdered Monique outside of Donneika’s house.
“Obviously, this incident speaks to the defendant’s violent criminal nature, his lack of respect for the law, and the need to protect the public from further crimes of this defendant,” Conway said. “He is a truly frightening and manipulative individual more than deserving of the serious sentence sought by the government.”
The advisory guideline range for Watson was 30 years to life. Conway requested that term.
But Hardy granted a reduction, deciding that 20 years was enough.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
