Poor girl...Afrika Owes from Harlem accused of being a gang member...been in jail for the last 2 weeks on $50,000 bail!!!!! They wildin out on her...Read up, I found this article on the Daily News. Charlie Rangel doing his best Don King impression...
Manhattan Judge To Rep. Charlie Rangel At Gang Girl's Bail Hearing: Sit Down, Willya?
A judge refused to reduce bail for accused gang girl Afrika Owes today - despite the teen's tears, two rows of church supporters, and the presence of Rep. Charlie Rangel.
Our Michael Feeney reports:Rangel rankled the judge by standing during the hearing for the former prep-school student: "Somebody is standing who shouldn't be standing, unless you have a back problem like I do," Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin said to the rep, who then took his seat.
Owes, 17, is accused of carrying guns for her boyfriend, a reputed leader of the violent and crack-peddling "137th St. Crew." She's been held on Rikers Island in lieu of $50,000 bail and petitioned to have the amount lowered or be released on her own recognizance.
She wept uncontrollably throughout the hearing, but the judge was unswayed. "I'm not altering this today...I'm not reducing the bail," he said, ordering her to return March 21.
Rangel said he does not know Owes, but was in court to "give assurances" that the influential Rev. Calvin Butts' Abyssinian Baptist Church could handle Owes' bail: "Far too many youngsters have made wrong decisions," he said. "Kids make mistakes."
Owes was valedictorian of her charter school before winning a scholarship to prestigious Deerfield in Massachusetts. She was booted from the prep school last May and has been attending Millenium High School in Manhattan, with her sights set on the Ivy League. Prosecutors say she was an "entrenched" member of the violent gang that operates in the shadow of Abyssinian, where she once sang in the choir.
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