Donald Watkins
Federal judge Mark Fuller, who is charged with beating his wife in an Atlanta hotel room, now faces an independent investigation into the possibility that he illegally obtained prescription drugs.That is from veteran Alabama lawyer and businessman Donald Watkins, via posts on his Facebook page. Watkins, chairman and CEO of Masada Resource Group LLC in Birmingham, says he has a team of investigators working on the Fuller story. The results of their work are "mind boggling," Watkins says, and he plans to develop a criminal case against Fuller and his drug supplier.
Watkins says his reporting on the Fuller case, plus his posts about an overtime-pay scandal involving Gov. Robert Bentley and a state trooper, have led to threats against his family.
Fuller's apparent abuse of prescription drugs was an issue in his 2012 divorce case. Watkins is taking a closer look at the issue, and this is from one of his recent posts:
While the Alabama Media Group is fighting to get access to Mark Fuller's sealed divorce records, and while the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is trying to determine whether Fuller beat his wife Kelli on August 9th, I am tracking down the person who supplied Fuller with illegal prescription drugs.
As I reported yesterday, we are making substantial progress with our ongoing Fuller investigation. The progress has been so good that I am starting to get threats to me and my family.
We are verifying the source and location of the drug supply. This investigation has taken us all of the way back to Fuller's hometown of Enterprise. The leads are pouring in to us now. They are appear to be very credible and corroborated by other independent evidence.
We are about to blow this Mark Fuller sex, illegal prescription drugs, alcohol abuse, and wife-beating scandal wide open. The truth about all of this is simply mind-boggling. Stay tuned.
How serious could this get? Watkins provides insight in a comment to his post:
Facebook friends, nobody is big enough to crush truth on a permanent basis. They can stall it momentarily, but they cannot suppress it forever. I may have found a possible second source for the illegal drugs. My team is on the case. This part of our investigation may be bigger than the wife-beating incident. Dispensing controlled substances/narcotics without a prescription is a criminal offense. Asking for these drugs on an illegal basis makes the person requesting the drugs equally guilty. I am working to develop a criminal case for knowingly participating in a scheme to acquire and use controlled substances/narcotics without a prescription.
Someone apparently is not thrilled with Watkins' investigative efforts. Reports Watkins, in a separate Facebook post:
At 9:50 p.m. EST Sunday night, I received a threat from someone on Facebook posing as "Gary Globalmiddleman". This person is not one of my Facebook friends. The threat came through my private message inbox feature. It stated, "worry about your own family. stop friending people just for shock value".
Judge Mark Fuller
(via Phil Fleming)
Watkins apparently has the resources to deal effectively with those who might issue threats:
My security team has locked the electronic footprint on this message. Whoever sent it to me overlooked one critical electronic tracer. We will identify, find, and deal with the person who made this threat.
For the record, I do not respond to threats. I work all over the globe, and some of my work is performed in really tough places. I have an excellent security team, including the best information technology experts on the planet. The question is not whether this person will be found, but when this event will occur.
Meanwhile, I will continue to report the truth about Bentley and Fuller. These men are twins of deception. I did not make these men do bad things. I only shined the spotlight on their despicable conduct. Whichever one of them authorized the threat against me and my family is a real criminal.
