STAFF REPORT
Glasgow News 1
Six people have now pleaded guilty in a federal drug conspiracy case. The case included large-scale shipments of drugs from California to Bowling Green.
One of the six, David Clinton Evans, 38, of Alvaton, was listed as a supplier to a drug operation in Barren County, according to the plea agreement of David Tywan Franklin. Franklin pleaded guilty in March in federal court to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He was initially scheduled to be sentenced in June, but the sentencing has been continued to Nov. 2, 2026.
In Franklin’s court filing it stated: “David Evans supplied the Defendant with a methamphetamine each month, at a price of approximately $1,000 per pound. The Defendant utilized several properties in Barren County, Kentucky as storage locations, …. The Defendant sold large quantities of methamphetamine to others throughout the month before he resupplied.”
Franklin’s plea deal also included a person to whom he allegedly supplied drugs.
“The Defendant sold methamphetamine for approximately $1,500 to $2,400 per pound to others who then redistributed methamphetamine throughout the region. For instance, the Defendant supplied methamphetamine to Donnie Boyd, who in turn sold methamphetamine to confidential informants (CI) working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Barren River Dmg Task Force (BRDTF). Donnie Boyd sold 443 grams to a CI on September 30, 2024, 429 grams to a CI on October 21, 2024, and 419 grams to a CI on November 8, 2024,” the court filing stated.
Boyd was indicted by a federal grand jury in August of 2025 on four counts of distribution of methamphetamine on four separate dates in 2024 in Barren County. His case remains unresolved as of Sept. 24, 2026. According to federal court documents, he has a telephonic hearing before Judge Greg N. Stivers set for Dec. 9, 2026.
Troy McFarland
Evans, Troy A. McFarland Jr., 38, of Bowling Green, Robert Watkins, 65, of Willow Springs, Missouri, Anthony Ross Thompson, 35, of Bowling Green, Michael Andre Pollard, 62, and Jesse Nicholas Spalding all pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Louisville to a count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
Spalding, Watkins and Pollard entered their guilty pleas in April, while Evans, McFarland and Thompson pleaded guilty earlier this month.
Robert Watkins
Court records filed in the case describe a conspiracy involving a drug-trafficking operation that functioned for several years in Bowling Green, in which Evans and others collected money for six-figure monthly buys of about 100 pounds of methamphetamine, 10 kilograms of cocaine and 40 pounds of marijuana from a supplier in California. The drugs were transported to Bowling Green by Watkins, a Missouri-based long-haul truck driver who owned a transportation company.
The organization allegedly began trafficking marijuana in 2010, cocaine in 2020 and meth in 2022.
According to Evans’ plea deal, from about Jan. 21, 2022, through about May 12, 2025, he conspired with at least five other men and others to distribute the drugs in Warren County and elsewhere in the Western District of Kentucky’s jurisdiction.
According to Watkins’ guilty plea, he met Evans in 2020 at a marijuana farm in Oregon and later used his tractor-trailer to haul money and drugs, using his transportation company to hide his illegal activity by frequently transporting legitimate cargo as a cover for the illicit drugs.
