Owes, 17, had been a student at the prestigious Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. Prosecutors say she was also a member of a drug gang that terrorized 137th Street in Harlem.
Owes was one of fourteen suspected “137th Street Crew” gang members arrested last month. Prosecutors said the gang used shootings, beatings and robberies to protect their turf and gain street status on a stretch of West 137th Street. The gang allegedly openly dealt crack in apartment lobbies, near Harlem Hospital and near the Abyssinian Baptist Church.
Read The rest from CBS
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/03/04/rep-charles-rangel-causes-stir-in-courtroom-while-supporting-bail-for-afrika-owes/
Accused prep-schooler-turned-gun-moll Afrika Owes glowered and sobbed her way through a Manhattan court date today, as a judge refused to set her free despite a contingent of courtroom supporters including embattled Rep. Charles Rangel.
Rangel and members of Harlem's famed Abyssinian Baptist Church had attended today's bail hearing in hopes of convincing Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin to let the church post a $50,000 bond for the troubled but book-smart 17-year-old.
The congressman had been so eager to weigh in in favor of the bond, he had to be told three times by court officers to sit back down in his front row seat.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/judge_blocks_bail_bond_moll_preppy_KTPkIJBFEGfWSPW2eJ9dPN#ixzz1FuneTlcT
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USA Today Blogger Reality for Eve
There is more to this story and it is the more that makes me want to rant a little. Ever notice how the liberals say we can't have the death penalty because we have "evolved"? Or that we have to have limits on how much time/punishment we give to minors because they are powerless or not smart enough to know what they were doing? Just how powerless was Afrika when she was involved with the rape, terrorizing, or drug dealing? Seems to me, she and her gang were the ones with the power. She was also smart enough to pre-meditate (i.e. think things through) on all her criminal activities. This woman does not deserve a second chance.
Liberals definition of 'evolve' involves stripping the rights of the victim to see justice served while giving the criminal more rights. America doesn't need this type of "evolution". Rangel should be ashamed of himself for trying to keep this vicious animal out on the streets where she could hurt more innocent people.
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Grumpy Note:
First of all I'd like to thank Reality for Eve for her observations and for letting me know about this in the first place. As of yesterday morning almost no one except CBS Local was saying anything about it..
Reality for Eve makes a hellva of a point, why is a Senior Member of Congress like Charlie Rangel sitting in a Court Room (on the taxpayers dime) trying to get a gang member, a gun and drug runner who is alleged to have been involved in a murder plot, out of jail? It's simple political connections, according to the NY Post
Asked whether he'd ever before gone to court on behalf of an accused drug conspirator -- and why, if not, he'd picked Owes to start doing so, he said, "Unfortunately, not all of them have vocal and influential pastors like the Rev. Calvin Butts," he said."Unfortunately" according to Rangel.... guess if they were all politically connected he'd be working to keep them all out of jail. From what I could see, Rangel doen't have much empathy for the victims, just sympathy for the criminals....
Rangel is a Senior Member of Congress, and leader of the Democratic Party, what else is there to say?
Mybe it was her name that they are fighting for, because the girl is a criminal.
ReplyDeleteGeez... so the parents went to Charlie. How many times have we seen this one. Gag me. The evidence is all there! She got caught. The law now says she has to do her time! Her education has nothing to do with her crime. She should serve then when she is done.. finish her degree if she wants! Move on with her life. Charlie is a dweeb.. here they have him as a role model.. go figure!
ReplyDeleteBang head here!
charlie is, himself, a thug, so we can't expect any integrity from him. wouldn't you think, though, after his own "battle for his seat" a few months ago, that he'd keep a low profile? this caper will just serve to add another blight to his alresdy tarnished career. marianne/alphamom
ReplyDeleteLooks like Charlie's all for laws to protect the public, as not they're not enforced.
ReplyDeleteHe especially doesn't want them enforced against campaign contributors or the politically influencial.
I recall a clan in Philadelphia years ago where all members took on the name Afrika. This outfit made the black panthers look like alter boys.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-05-11-philadelphia-bombing_x.htm
As to rangel, what a freeking idiot. It is bad enough that he is a slum lord, tax evader, and censured member of Congress, but this is ridiculous. Pretty evident why Harlem resembles Detroit.
During Charlie's "battle for his seat", as Alphamom pointed out, his true colors were hung out to dry and America was forced to see one more crooked politician in Washington, DC cry like a baby because he was caught - finally! Is he serving time in prison? Of course not! Not even stripped of his rank as a Congressman! What a role model for any of our young contemplating "politics" as a full time career.
ReplyDeleteCharlie is beyond making wise decisions and life is all about "Charlie". What do I mean? Simply put, folks like Charlie have an ego (not a conscience) and that ego is fed by being in the limelight i.e. media. They crave for attention anyway they can get it, and if supporting a criminal gets his name in print,the media has just made his day for him. However, if one could see into his mind, I think we would see that Charlie does not give TWO CENTS for this gang member - its not about her, it's about Charlie.
Now Bee Sting, he's proven himself to be a lawmaker on the side of law breakers,, really makes me wonder how much gang money finds it's way into his campaign bank accounts... or gets laundered as walking around money.
ReplyDeleteSwan I don't think there are any rules against the girl finishing her education in prison.
Marine, I was wondering about the the name, kinda says something about the people who named her.
I think they should give her a fair trial and then hang her. That's what Clint Eastwood would do.
ReplyDeleteLike Clint Eastwood says, "Give her a fair trial, then hang her".
ReplyDeleteBud.. no she hasn't been convicted, but even Rangel indicated he thought she was guilty. His attitude was drugging dealing, running guns and conspiracy to commit murder were nothing more than youthful indiscretions.
ReplyDeleteHere is what Wang Dang Rangel thinks about Youth, Education and the Military. Obviously this creature Afrika likes to fight and is educated, put her in a gang and send her to Eastern Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteRep. Charles Rangel has adopted Senator Kerry's "botched joke" about unsuccessful young people ending up in the military — only Mr. Rangel is not joking.
"If a young fellow has an option of having a decent career, or joining the Army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq," Mr. Rangel, a Democrat representing Manhattan and Queens, said on "Fox News Sunday."
"If there's anyone who believes these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No bright young individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment," the congressman said.
Mr. Rangel was responding to a question about a study by a conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, which found that those enlisting in the military tend to be better educated than the general public and that military recruiting seems to be more successful in middle-class and wealthy neighborhoods than in poor ones.
"He's really, indirectly, insulting the troops," the study's author, Timothy Kane, told The New York Sun. "He doesn't want to admit the fact that thousands and tens of thousands of young men and women are willing to make these sacrifices. More and more troops are saying duty and honor are motivating them, not college money."
Mr. Kane, a former Air Force intelligence officer, said his study found that 97% of military enlistees were high school graduates, as compared with about 80% of Americans in general, and that the average reading level of military personnel is a full grade level higher than that of the general populace.
S.O.L. (lost my password again)
You-all are missing Senator Ensign's decision to not run again because of his doinking a staff member and paying off the doinked staff member's husband in a failed attempt to cover up the affair.
ReplyDeleteI am not attempting to diminish Mr. Rangle's problems at all. This isn't a yabit. Just a reminder that neither party has a monopoly on dishonesty, larceny, ethically challenging decisions, dirty dealing, and general malfeasance.
As democrat James bad hair Traficant is getting out of prison republican Tom DeLay is entering it.
AG - You are correct. Both parties have their idiots. I recall a period of time between his two dem stints when arlene specter was a Republican. Charlie Crist was also one for awhile. I wonder which party charlie sheen supports. I was not a huge fan of POTUS Nixon.
ReplyDeleteDid bubba allow Ms Lewinsky to auction off the yellow tie or cigar butt on e-bay?
A.G would appear the pride of the democratic party has been shooting of his mouth some more.. SOL's comment had a delay getting posted, I think it had something to do with his wording..
ReplyDeleteMakes it clear that one of the most powerful men in Congress has more empathy for gang bangers than out men and women in uniform.
@aquagrump....IMO, the fact that ensign fornicated & committed adultry, while a grave offense, it hardly compares to the mischief that "good-time charlie" has managed to effect. charlie has an ongoing reputation of swindling, gouging, mis-using funds, etc. he has caused many people to lose their savings. he is one of the most toxic entities in the gov't at the present time. let's don't forget that ensign did bow out & will not seek further office. charlie just goes on & on & on & on...& i might add, w/ his party's absolution!
ReplyDeletemarianne/alphamom