Forward Mike Watkins Charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia

Penn State forward Mike Watkins has found himself in trouble with the law.

It was made public on Monday that the Philadelphia native was caught by Penn State police with drug paraphernalia and a trio of .40 caliber bullets in a team issued duffel bag.

He did, however, present Penn State police with a concealed carry permit, per Bret Pallotto of Centre Daily Times who first reported the case on Monday afternoon.

Penn State police found the paraphernalia which has been identified as a grinder as well as the three bullets during a search of Watkins apartment, which he consented to. Police originally gave Watkins apartment a visit when investigating the report of an unregistered firearm that Watkins may have been in possession of. According to the report, it does not sound like the firearm in question was recovered at the scene.

Watkins, according to the report, told detectives that he did not know the bullets were in his duffel bag which even prompted the 22-year old to ask where they found them. When it comes to the grinder, Watkins told detectives, “Ahh, that’s old ... man.”

For Watkins, it’s not his first time being in trouble at Penn State which will leave some to question how many more chances he has with the program. It also leaves head coach Pat Chambers with an important decision to make going forward.

Penn State’s associate athletic director Jeff Nelson released the following statement on the incident: “We are aware of the incident and take this situation seriously, we hold our student-athletes to high standards and will address this violation of team rules.”

The redshirt junior is coming off a strong redshirt sophomore season that saw him play in 29 games while averaging 12.9 points per game and 8.9 rebounds. He missed the last few games of the season with a knee injury. He has a primary hearing on his charges set for July 11th.