Watkins Sentenced to 20 Years + Partial Life Sentences

Last August, we shared the story about Brice Gage Watkins who posted a video of himself raping a BABY on social media, then went on the run for several weeks before police captured him. Watkins and the mother of the child were friends and she had left the infant in his care for a short time. Watkins was sentenced for the crime in June 2021. Thankfully, Watkins received a decent amount of time behind bars -unlike many cases we report, but in reality, no amount of time in prison would suffice.

Here’s the story…

Brice Gage Watkins, the Oklahoma teen who made headlines in August 2020 after he recorded himself raping a 6-month-old baby in his care and then distributed it to social media, was sentenced to 20-years in prison in June 2021. He will also serve partial life terms for three other counts.

Watkins was sentenced for one count of manufacturing child pornography. The judge sentenced him to three life sentences on other charges with all but the first 25-years suspended for each of the three counts of lewd acts to a child under age 12.

All the time will run concurrent for all counts but consecutive to a 2017 misdemeanor case in which Watkins pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a controlled dangerous substance and one count of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

Garfield County District Court initially charged Watkins with one felony count of distribution of child pornography but added charges of manufacturing child pornography and three counts of lewd acts to a child under 12.

The Crime

A woman contacted the Norman Police Department on August 11, 2020, after receiving videos of Watkins molesting the infant. She told officers that she recognized the child and the house, located in Enid because she and the mother were close friends. The woman told police that Watkins was the perpetrator.

Another woman reported the videos to Norman Police on August 13. She told them Watkins was doing “inappropriate things” to a child that she knew.

Warrant for Watkins’ Arrest

Police issued a warrant for Watkins’ arrest. He immediately went on the run. More than one month later, police found Watkins at the home of his friend in San Marcos, Texas. He was taken into custody at that time.

Why do Criminals Post Videos Online?

Criminals crave attention, positive or negative when they take to social media to share their disturbing crimes. Thankfully, the need for attention helps police capture criminals and hopefully prevent more people from getting hurt.

Lipscomb University Psychologist Dr. Justin Briggs told Fox17 "There are personality disorders that are founded on people's desire to get noticed,” Briggs said.

The physiologist said, in some cases, people care less about going to jail than they do about being seen.

"When the goal is attention, you don’t really care maybe as much whether it be negative or positive,” Briggs said.

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