Home Crime Rockingham Police allegedly find drugs at home with 2 convicted felons

Rockingham Police allegedly find drugs at home with 2 convicted felons

Kim Lamont Harris, left, and John Kelsey Watkins were charged following the execution of a search warrant Tuesday morning.

ROCKINGHAM — Two men, including a convicted sex offender, are facing drug and weapons charges following the execution of a search warrant Tuesday morning.

According to a press release from the Rockingham Police Department, officers, 

along with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team, found two suspects — both with criminal records dating back more than 20 years — at the home while executing the warrant.

During a search, officers reportedly found and seized an unspecified amount of narcotics, an AR-15 rifle and a variety of drug paraphernalia including scales, baggies and pipes.

Officers arrested 44-year-old John Kelsey Watkins and 51-year-old Kim Lamont Harris and charged them each with maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substance; possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver a Schedule II controlled substance; possession of a firearm by a felon; and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Both were booked into the Richmond County Jail, each under a $50,000 secured bond.

Online court records show Watkins has a pending misdemeanor assault and battery charge in Forsyth County.

Harris is currently on parole after serving seven years for failing to register as a sex offender in Guilford County, and possession with intent to sell a Schedule II controlled substance and being a habitual felon in Richmond County.

Records show Harris was convicted in 1997 of second-degree rape and second-degree sex offense, in addition to two counts of possession with intent to sell a Schedule IV controlled substance, in Richmond County.

In the late ‘80s, Harris was previously convicted on several counts of larceny breaking and entering.

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After serving 10 years on the sex and drug crime convictions, Harris was released in 2007. However, he served another 13 months following a 2010 conviction of possession with intent to sell a Schedule II controlled substance and assault on an officer or state employee.

While serving that sentence, he was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon from a 2009 charge in Anson County, tacking on an extra month with the concurrent sentence.

Records show Harris was released from prison June 17 of this year and his parole is set to end the same date in 2022.

Watkins was first convicted in 1994 on two counts each of assault with a deadly weapon and damage to property, as well as a single count of injury to real property. His probation was revoked and was sentenced to about a year on a conviction of injury to hired property, records show.

Likewise, Watkins initially received probation on conviction of possession with intent to sell a Schedule II controlled substance, which was revoked, landing him behind bars for four months.

In 1999, Watkins was convicted in Guilford County of assault inflicting serious injury — again given probation, which was revoked in 2001, resulting in a 18-month prison stay.

Thirteen months after his release, records show Watkins was back behind bars for another four months after being convicted in Guilford of assault on a female and two counts of assault by pointing a gun. While serving that sentence, Watkins was convicted of possessing stolen goods from an incident prior to that conviction, but was given probation.

Most recently, Watkins served more than seven years on three consecutive sentences after being convicted on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and possession of a firearm by a felon.

All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

 

 



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