Car hauler busted for hauling $3M of coke

CRIME Blog | The Dallas Morning News: "The government presented evidence at trial that Watkins, and his co-defendant, Steven Alexander Aaron, 37, were arrested on April 22, 2008, after their eastbound vehicle, a tractor-trailer car hauler, was stopped by a West Central Texas Interlocal Crime Task Force Officer on Interstate 20, near mile marker 266, in Taylor County, Texas, because it didn't have secure chains or a license plate. Aaron was driving the vehicle; Watkins was the sole passenger. The car hauler was loaded with a maroon Chrysler minivan and a black Range Rover. After obtaining Aaron's consent, the officers searched the tractor-trailer and the two loaded vehicles, and discovered six bricks of cocaine in a black backpack in the rear hatch of the Range Rover. Testimony at trial showed that Watkins had hidden the backpack in the Range Rover. The street value of the cocaine in the backpack is approximately $3 million."