A Florissant man who was busted in North City with 3,000 pounds of illegal fireworks was denied bond on Friday, meaning he will be in jail at least until his next hearing in 10 days.
“Is that a ton and a half? A ton and a half?” asked St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Colona, before denying bond to Serrari Houston Watson.
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Watson, 38, was arrested in the Kingsway West neighborhood on Thursday morning after officers executed a search warrant at a home on Terry Avenue and found the fireworks cache. The boxes containing the fireworks had Watson’s name and address written on them. He admitted to police that 90 percent of the fireworks belonged to him, according to a police probable cause statement.
Watson was charged with a misdemeanor fireworks charge as well as a felony for tampering with a utility service. He had bypassed the home’s electric meter and connected directly to the power grid.
A video released by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department shows officers forming a human chain to remove box after box of fireworks from the home.
After his arrest, Watson made his initial appearance in court on Friday afternoon. He entered a plea of not guilty through his attorney, Pat Conroy.
Prosecutors wanted Watson to remain in custody, citing a pair of controlled substances cases from 15 years ago. Conroy noted that Watson’s previous criminal history was nonviolent and that Watson works diligently to support his eight children and his wife, with whom he operates a car dealership.
He added that he understood that should Watson get bail, he would abide by “no more fireworks.”
As for the utility charge, Conroy quipped, “I hardly think Ameren is going to come in and make a victim impact statement.”
Colona ultimately denied bond to Watson, though he indicated that his release on bond at a future date was not out of the question. He will next be in court July 6.
Afterwards, Conroy told SLM that, “It’s important to remember the fireworks charge is a misdemeanor. And while stealing from a utility is a felony offense, it’s generally not an offense that would result in your incarceration. So I’m hoping we’ll be able to get him released.”
Unlicensed fireworks sales are suspected to be a catalyst for some of the many unauthorized shows around the region in the weeks leading up to July 4. In a totally separate case, the Post-Dispatch’s Kim Bell reported that police in the Metro East seized 6,000 pounds of illegal fireworks in Madison County. And, earlier this month, LaSalle Park residents expressed frustration that police seemed uninterested in the evidence they’d compiled showing a pickup truck visiting their neighborhood to sell fireworks to the teenagers living there. One such distribution, they say, caused a rolling five-day fireworks battle where youth shot the explosives at each other and at the homes of residents who dared to complain.
A police spokesman later implied that SLM writing about their frustrations had halted an ongoing investigation.
