Woman Accused of Impersonating Officer in Attempt to Extort 84-Year-Old Man on Rape
A Memphis, Tennessee, woman has been accused of impersonating a police officer in an attempt to extort an 84-year-old man on a nonexistent rape charge.
The man told Memphis police he was told to meet Watkins at a restaurant on Germantown Parkway, where she told him she would place him in handcuffs if he didn't pay thousands of dollars in fines to have the rape charge dropped.
According to court records, Watkins drove the man to a bank where he withdrew $8,000, and then another bank where he attempted to withdraw another $10,000. At the second attempt, the bank contacted the victim's son and the account was frozen. Police say Watkins drove off with the $8,000.
Watkins, 32, faces a list of charges including robbery, theft, criminal impersonation, illegal use of a credit card, financial exploitation of vulnerable adults and false imprisonment for crimes for crimes she allegedly committed in February.
In another case, Watkins was accused of extorting a different man, saying he owed debt to a mutual friend.
The second man told police he was waiting to pick up a food delivery at the McDonald's restaurant on South Third Street when a woman called him and told him she was an undercover officer, according to an affidavit of complaint. He said he was told to exit the vehicle or he would be handcuffed and taken to jail. He was told he could not escape because he was surrounded by police.
Court records state that the man was then instructed to get into a black van in the parking lot of the McDonald's, where he met a woman named Nicole. She allegedly told the man to withdraw $900 in cash to give to her, along with everything in his pockets, which included his mother's debit card. Watkins allegedly forced him to provide the pin number for the bank card. The man told investigators he complied out of fear of going to jail.
Court documents show that Watkins fraudulently used the debit card belonging to the man's mother, who suffered a $1,000 loss as a result. The man later identified Watkins as the suspect in a photo lineup.
Once Watkins was arrested, police say she had to be hospitalized for previous medical conditions but that she managed to escape from custody at Methodist Hospital. She is now facing a charge for that incident as well.
Watkins posted bond on April 30. Jail records show her next court date is May 28.
