Armed robbery of One Stop Market is 14th felony arrest for Utica man

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Armed robbery of One Stop Market is 14th felony arrest for Utica man

By DAVID DELLECESE

Story Created: Jul 3, 2008 at 12:48 PM EDT

Story Updated: Jul 3, 2008 at 3:52 PM EDT

UTICA - A Utica man is facing charges after an armed robbery Thursday morning.

Police say it was at 9:04 a.m. Thursday when James D. Watkins, 41, of Utica, walked into the One Stop Market at 625 Albany Street, armed with a knife, and forcibly stole an undisclosed amount of money and fled.

Twenty minutes later, Watkins was apprehended by Utica Police in the 700 block of Lansing Street.

Watkins has been charged with one count of first-degree robbery. Police say he had 13 prior felony arrests.

"Due to a quick response from uniform patrol, a harmful individual is now incarcerated," said Commissioner Daniel LaBella.

Sunday, Jul 6 at 4:11 AM best of both worlds wrote ...

I dont know what has happend to this town. It kills me to see that the justice system failed once again. i've seen this man on more than on occasion and can't believe he is on the streets walking around with 13 felonies. this town is crazy and really needs to be investigated. how many other people walking around with this many felonies.

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Friday, Jul 4 at 3:15 PM justme wrote ...

http://nysdocslookup.docs.state.ny.us/GCA00P00/WIQ2/WINQ120 this is the inmate site of people in prison or have been to prison he hasnt been since 1989

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Friday, Jul 4 at 11:17 AM wad wrote ...

to anfony world traveler, wake up!!! rehab doesnt work, if you dont believe me go sit in drug court for a few weeks, these scum bags get sent to several rehabs-they walk out or get thrown out and judge balzano sends them to different ones ( thousands of dollars on each one) i was too nice to recommend jail time, what they really need is a bullet to the head (ill buy )!!!!!!!!!

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Friday, Jul 4 at 7:46 AM Anfony world traveler wrote ...

charged with,does not mean convicted of...bloggers,and all you outstanding citizens out here...u just was not caught for some of the things u hav done,and this guy may have drug problem..hmmmm, lets not rally for punishment ,but improvement. More rehah,less jail..cause all u talking that hav never been to jail,and the others themselves likely need rehab..anyway happy 4th of July..all concerned outstanding citizens..and for the record,some people u can help,some u never will..family or not.

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Friday, Jul 4 at 7:26 AM wad wrote ...

the cause of repeated crimes falls directly on the judges and D.A.'s who dont do their job. they must not have read his criminal history record on the last 10 felony arrests. every week someone is in the news for having multiple arrests (stan ruszala) but nothing gets done about it. the o.d. and wktv should try to interview the judges and try to find out why this happens. maybe alot of publicity would force them to do what is right by getting these people off the streets for good!!!

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 10:39 PM Taxpayer wrote ...

with his record they need to go after the Judges that released him and put them away too.

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 10:13 PM Hey White racists!! wrote ...

That has to be the most ignorant statement I have ever read in one of these blogs! It is soooo sad that you can even think that anything you said has one ounce of truth. Stop the hate brother.There are black scumbags abd white scumbags. There are black outstanding citizens and white outstanding citizens. Join the human race and drop the poor black man attitude. ITS BORING!!

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 8:14 PM abc wrote ...

Well if this was my cousin, I surely would not brag about it. He obviously is in need of some help and if you are his cousin, why havent you helped him stay on the right path and out of trouble? Are you proud of him?? You should both be ashamed of yourselves...him for what he has done and you for what you havent done..for not being there for a family member to help him.

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 8:09 PM abc to CONCERN UTICAN wrote ...

Learn how to use punctuation and how to spell, for crying out loud. Those in glass houses should not throw stones.

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 6:44 PM jake wrote ...

The devil made him do it.

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 6:32 PM Word up homie wrote ...

The NAACP is going to start whining about this one soon saying that he was bamboozled by the cops.

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 5:41 PM excuse me - wrote ...

but he has 13 previous? and we should feel sorry for him? please - my tax dollars contribute plenty to assist in the cost of his court appearences - and God knows what else - what are his prior arrests for? give me a break - he has issues if this is the 14th arrest.....

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 5:38 PM Janay wrote ...

hey thats my cousin but yeah he shouldnt had done that

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 5:30 PM Anonymous wrote ...

This is living, walking proof that the criminal justice system, the judicial system and lawmakers need to wake up in this state! There is NO WAY this man should have been standing anywhere with a knife in his hand other than in a prison cafeteria waiting in line for breakfast.

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 4:42 PM White racists wrote ...

The man probably has a condition common to African-Americans that turns normal food into fat. It's his metabolism and the poor food he can afford to buy. This shows how racist the community is. They would have given a white man a shirt and tie and kept the media away. When a white man steals it gets explained away, but they lock up a black man with a felony. He's arrested for being black, nothing else. Hear his side of the story before arresting him and exposing him to humiliation.

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 4:26 PM GOOD GRIEF wrote ...

Only 13 priors? Poor, misunderstood. useless being...Just throw arawy6 the key, will you?

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 4:11 PM Nana wrote ...

How many Felonies does a scum bag have to commit before he/she receives a sentence long enough to keep them out of Society for at least 10 years?

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 4:08 PM al sharpton wrote ...

Look here,George--I did what I could for that man. I stood on a soap box and screamed at the top of my lungs about how the black man is just beaten down by the system. Then I left in my black Mercedes and went on to the next town. What do you EXPECT out of me? I can't keep coming back to "help"---gas prices are affecting ME too! Your courts in NY realize that none of this is this poor guy's fault--that's why they keep letting him out on the streets..not his fault, not his fault, not his fau

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 4:05 PM Rosie wrote ...

Is that a picture of the start of the Boilermaker?

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 3:51 PM George Bush wrote ...

Where's Al Sharpton when you need him? This poor man is just confused, we need to spend tax money on helping him out to solve his overeating problem which makes him have a low self esteem and thus he has become another LOWLIFE scum bag!

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 3:50 PM CONCERN UTICIAN wrote ...

YEAH I AGREE WITH JOKE AFTER THREE THEY SHOULD NEVER GET OUT HELLO JUSTICE SYSTEM WHY DO YOU KEEP LETTING THE FELONS WALK WHAT IF EVERYONE WAS LIKE THIS

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 3:40 PM Wow wrote ...

This guy is an upstanding member of society. Maybe his neighbors will hold a candle light vigil for him.

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 3:24 PM Anonymous wrote ...

NYS is having a hard time finding prison officers and is just setting them all free because they can't staff the jails......This is only going to get worse......

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 2:34 PM jlr wrote ...

everyone seem quick to run their mouth.not so quick to give police credit

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 2:33 PM Gramma wrote ...

Put him in an 18 hour Bra and lock him up for 18 years!! More animals---let's hope he hasn't reproduced himself somewhere along the way.......Poor poor Utica.......

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 2:29 PM Waste wrote ...

I Wasted 10 seconds of my life looking at this!

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 2:15 PM WTF wrote ...

Give him the elctric chair. He's waisting our precious oxygen. LOWLIFE!!!!

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 2:07 PM J DOE TOO wrote ...

why in gods name is he out on the streets ,with so many felonies??HELLO!!!!

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 2:07 PM This picture resembles wrote ...

something I once seen on National Geographic.

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 1:53 PM Amazing!! wrote ...

It is amazing that a guy with all his priors can still walk the street!! Where's are Justice system?

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 1:45 PM The Sage wrote ...

I don't think he'll be able to cry, "I needed the money because I was hungry." He's certainly eating well.

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 1:39 PM Mr. Mister wrote ...

I agree with "hey jimmy" 100 Percent!

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 1:31 PM me wrote ...

why wasnt he already locked up in prison. im curious what the other arrests were for. and why are they so proud that he is now off the sreets. they should have thought of that before. maybe the judge needs to be a little tougher

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 1:29 PM hey jimmy wrote ...

get a shirt on for cryin' out loud

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 1:18 PM J.DOE wrote ...

You call 20 minuts later a quick responce? Looking at the guy im sure he wasn't a fast runner thank god.

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Thursday, Jul 3 at 1:09 PM Joke wrote ...

13 Prior Felony, what happen to three and throw the key away...

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