Lake Lanier fishing guide charged with Oakwood theft case

Posted 2:00PM on Saturday, July 28, 2018

A well-know fishing guide from Forsyth County is suspected of ripping off as many as 20 victims in Georgia and South Carolina.

An investigator from the Oakwood Police Department said he was able to get enough evidence to arrest 50-year-old Bradley Shane Watson on theft by deception charges this week.

The Oakwood case came to light on July 16 when the Hart County Sheriff's Office contacted the Oakwood Police Department about a victim who said Watson had taken money from him at Regions Bank on Mundy Mill Road. The victim, identified in a police report as Thomas Kinley, said he gave Watson $27,000 as an initial payment for a boat.

"Thomas [Kinley] stated in the report that there was a contract signed with Bradley [Watson] and that the boat would be delivered in June 2018 and as of this date the boat has not been delivered and the money has not been returned to Thomas [Kinley]," the police report stated.

The boat Kinley believed he was buying was a 2018 Sea Chase Bay Runner 23LX valued at $38,000.

Oakwood police investigators said Kinley told them he met Watson through a Craigslist advertisement.

Watson was booked into the Hall County Jail on Wednesday, July 25; he is no longer in jail, according to jail records.

Oakwood PD investigators said they have worked with law enforcement detectives in Forsyth County, since Watson was booked on similar charges in Forsyth County earlier in the month.

Investigators believe Watson has bilked victims out of more than $300,000 in Roswell, Milton, Monroe, Gainesville and Oakwood, as well as Hall, Banks, Forsyth, Walton and Morgan counties; they also said they have identified one victim in Aiken, SC.