Feeding Our Future figure charged with 8 (unrelated) felony counts

You may recall the name Empress Malcolm Watson, Jr., from the early days of the Feeding Our Future scandal.

He was described back then as the live-in boyfriend of Aimee Bock, Defendant No. 1 in the free-food fraud case. Watson himself has never been charged in the case.

The Rosemount house then shared by Bock and Watson was Subject Premises No. 2 in one of the early search warrants filed in the case back in January 2022.

In that search warrant, Watson is mentioned by name four times. He is accused of taking $600,000 from the nonprofit Feeding Our Future (p. 49, paragraph 151). The FBI says that some of the money was spent on a Las Vegas vacation, including a luxury car rental, and items purchased from Caesars Palace, Gucci and Louis Vuitton (paragraph 153).

At the time, Watson became a minor celebrity, with mentions in the U.K. Daily Mail, among other outlets. A photograph circulated back then, purportedly of Watson posing with a rented luxury car.

He was never charged in the Feeding case, and his name soon disappeared from the public eye. Until now.

Predawn (5:22 a.m.), Sunday, August 25, local police were summoned to a residential area in Blaine. When they arrived, they found Watson, now aged 39, at the home of his “on-and-off” girlfriend (initials “ACS,” not Aimee Bock). He stands accused of six (6) felonies arising from the morning’s alleged activities. Watson stands accused of assaulting the girlfriend, causing significant property damage to her home, and assaulting a neighbor to whom she had fled for safety in the neighbor’s home. Watson stands accused of threatening to kill both the girlfriend and the neighbor.

The alleged violent conduct began after a verbal dispute between Watson and ACS after he returned in the early morning from his previous night’s solo adventures.

To top up the charges, they found a 9MM pistol and ammunition in Watson’s backpack in Watson’s borrowed pickup truck at the scene.

Watson is currently being held in Anoka County jail on $750,000 bail:

His first court appearance occurred on Tuesday. Official court documents still list his address as his former residence (with Aimee Bock in Rosemount). (She herself moved out shortly after the FBI raids, according to public documents.)

The gun charge was included owing to Watson’s status as a six-time convicted felon. The felony convictions resulted from six separate court cases (2004-2018), four of which involved crimes of violence. His felony convictions stem from crimes committed in four different counties.

He is also being held on two unrelated felony counts arising from a DUI-related car crash last month, also in Anoka County (county No. 5).

At 9 a.m. on Monday, July 15, a state trooper was summoned to the scene of a single-car rollover crash on I-35W. The trooper found Watson in the vehicle, allegedly, “hysterical, screaming, and flailing around.” Watson’s 11-year-old son was found in the back seat of the SUV with an obviously broken ankle. Witnesses at the scene claimed the SUV had been traveling at speeds between 80 and 100 MPH prior to the crash.

The trooper’s report has Watson admitting to beginning the day with a Mike’s Hard Lemonade.

Just two weeks before, July 2, Watson was convicted in Ramsey County court (county No. 6) of a misdemeanor DWI. The case involved a July 28, 2023, 3 a.m. traffic stop in St. Paul, where Watson blew a .125.

In that DWI case, Watson received a 90-day suspended sentence and one year of probation. His $136 fine in the case remains unpaid.

The previous week (June 28, 2024) Watson had been convicted in Ramsey County court of two misdemeanor counts of assault. In his plea bargain, two felony counts were dropped.

In that case, he was also given a 90-day suspended sentence and one year of probation. The $61 fine remains unpaid. Yesterday, a probation violation report was filed in that docket.

This incident also began in St. Paul, on this occasion on April 13, 2023. Officers were summoned at 9 in the evening to a scene were a tow-truck driver was working to remove illegally-parked vehicles. Allegedly, Watson threatened the driver and a passerby while waving a pistol. Watson then left in his Mercedes before it could be towed. The incident was captured on video. Watson’s 2018 white Mercedes SUV appears to be the same vehicle he crashed last month.

A 2023 traffic case in Rice County (county No. 7) indicates that Watson’s driver’s license had been revoked.

Watson’s most recent felony conviction dates from 2018 in Dakota County. There, he was sentenced to 19 months in prison, in-line with guidelines for the offense.

In the latest set of charges, Watson is due back in court on September 16.