Years ago a Meridian Walgreens was robbed. Two California men have now been sentenced
Years after a Meridian Walgreens was robbed — and after several court proceedings across Idaho and Nevada — the California men who stole thousands of dollars of prescription drugs have been sentenced.
Thyeir Bolden and Antonio Watkins were arrested in 2022 after police said they stole the drugs from the Walgreens at the corner of East Fairview Avenue and North Locust Grove Road in Meridian. Bolden and Watkins, along with another man who wasn’t charged in Idaho, were arrested after leading law enforcement on a pursuit through Oregon and into Nevada. They were booked into the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office in Winnemucca, Nevada.
At around 11:30 a.m. Sept. 26, 2022, Bolden entered the Walgreens wearing a mask, jumped on a counter, and demanded the employees open a locked safe where various prescription medications were stored, according to the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office. The drugs were then supposed to be delivered to someone who would sell them on the black market as part of a criminal gang that targeted Walgreens stores across the western part of the country.
“This was not just a gas store robbery,” Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Michael Guy said during Bolden’s sentencing. “This was not a robbery because, ‘Oh, I need some money. I need living expenses. I need to provide food for my family,’ No, this was organized.”
Judge says gang was ‘using’ Bolden
Both men were convicted and sentenced to prison in Nevada before being extradited back to Idaho. Fourth District Judge Nancy Baskin sentenced the 27-year-old Watkins — who served as the lookout and said he wasn’t affiliated with the gang — to three months in the Ada County Jail, opposing a request by the prosecution for years of additional incarceration.
He was convicted of aiding and abetting in the robbery, which is a felony.
Baskin said she “respectfully disagreed” with the prosecution’s argument that the two-plus years Watkins spent incarcerated already wasn’t significant enough time. Watkins will be expected to complete a substance abuse treatment course while he’s in jail, and then he’ll be placed on probation for 10 years.
“I understand you were the lookout. You weren’t the guy in the mask who jumped the counter in the pharmacy department — but you were the lookout for that guy,” Baskin said, referring to Bolden. “You knew what that guy was going to do, and he did it, and that conduct by your co-defendant had real and lasting effects.”
Baskin added that she hoped this was a “life-changing event” for Watkins. If he violates his probation, Watkins could face prison time since Baskin underlaid a 10-year prison sentence that would require him to spend at least two years behind bars before becoming eligible for parole.
“I hope you’ll never be involved in criminal activity,” Baskin said. “I hope you’ll put your daughter ahead of any bad judgment about getting involved in criminal activity in the future.”
Baskin sentenced Bolden, 26, to a little over 15 years last June. He was convicted of felony robbery, with the other charges against him dropped as part of a plea deal, online court records showed.
Bolden could be released from prison by July 2028 since he has to spend only four years in prison before he’s eligible for parole. He’s still at the Southern Desert Correctional Center outside of Las Vegas, online prison records showed, but he eventually will be transferred to a prison in Idaho.
Bolden didn’t use a weapon during the robbery, instead using his size to intimidate the employees to open the locked safe where the prescriptions were stored. The judge said Bolden’s actions still had a psychological and emotional impact on the employees. She also noted that Bolden was a pawn in the gang’s criminal organization.
“You’re used by them,” Baskin said. “You give up everything. They give up nothing.”
“They remain in their homes. They don’t have any criminal record, and they make a lot of money off these drugs that they sell on the black market because they haven’t paid anything for them. It’s a business model that you gotta understand is just using you.”
During their sentencings, both men apologized for their actions and said they were working to change their lives.
“I know I have lived a troubled life, but I have come to a time where I do want to change,” Bolden said. “I don’t want this life for my kids. I don’t want this life for myself, and I don’t want this life for my support system that’s here.”
