Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Amber S. Watkins, 20, was arrested early this morning and charged with violation of probation and possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana after a call about a suspicious person at The Crossings at Santa Fe.

An Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to the apartment complex at 3205 NW 83rd Street at about 10:10 p.m. and detained Watkins, who is on community control and is supposed to be confined to an approved residence. A search incident to arrest reportedly produced about 23 grams of marijuana.

Watkins has been labeled by the State of Florida as a violent felony offender of special concern, and she is on probation for armed burglary and other charges.

She was arrested on July 26, 2022, after allegedly trying to break into a house while carrying a firearm in her backpack; post Miranda, she reportedly said that the resident of the home would “not have seen another day” because he had committed a crime against her friend. Charges of carrying a weapon during the commission of a felony and unlawfully carrying a concealed firearm were dropped, and she entered into a plea agreement on charges of armed burglary, possession of a controlled substance, and resisting an officer without violence.

Although the armed robbery charge carries a maximum life sentence, Watkins was sentenced as a youthful offender to two years of community control, followed by four years of standard probation. The Sheriff’s Office was ordered to transport her to a residential mental health program upon release. She was discharged from the residential program about a month later and violated her probation a week after that by failing to report to her probation officer upon release and moving from her last known place of residence. A warrant for her arrest was issued in March 2023, and she was arrested in July 2023. In October, she entered a plea admitting she had violated probation.

On the date of her sentencing, Watkins wrote a letter to the judge, asking to go to rehab instead of prison. She said she had made a “terrible mistake” in leaving her previous residential treatment program, adding, “I believe I wasn’t entirely ready to get sober when I left, however I am ready now.” She promised to stay in outpatient care and attend NA meetings upon release and asked the judge to “Please give me this opportunity to become an upstanding productive member of society.” Judge William Davis reinstated the previous terms community control and ordered that she be evaluated for admission to a residential mental health and substance abuse treatment program.

Watkins has two felony convictions (none violent). Judge Thomas Jaworski ordered her held without bond for violating probation and set bail at $5,000 for the marijuana charge; she will remain in the Alachua County Jail until her next hearing on the probation case on March 11.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.