Prominent L.A. gang interventionist Skipp Townsend arrested for alleged murder conspiracy
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Set us as preferred The head of a South Los Angeles nonprofit gang intervention program has been arrested by LAPD homicide detectives for an alleged conspiracy to commit murder, along with four men accused in a killing.Skipp Townsend, 62, executive director of 2nd Call, was taken into custody by LAPD Robbery Homicide Division detectives on Wednesday at about 10:30 a.m., in South Los Angeles in the 5100 block of Obama Boulevard.
Townsend is a former gang member who, for more than two decades, has been the head of one of the city’s largest intervention programs and is often quoted and appears in the media and alongside city leaders.His organization, 2nd Call, is an advocacy group that seeks to mediate gang disputes and provide alternatives to violence in the community.Townsend is being held in lieu of $2 million bail.
In addition to Townsend, Lenita Sinna Dee Lewis, 28, and Shamond Bennett, 49 were arrested Monday.Two other people who were arrested, Nichole Aaliyah Smith, 23 and Jeremiah Abdelhameed, 25, were also held on suspicion of accessory after the fact.
LAPD officials would not detail who the men allegedly conspired to murder.Townsend has not been charged by prosecutors.An attorney for him could not be reached for comment.
A spokesman for the L.A.County district attorney’s office could not say if a case had been presented for charging yet.
Law enforcement sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the pending case told the Times search warrants were served before the men were booked into custody.Najee Ali, another prominent South L.A.
activist, said Wednesday that police seized computers from 2nd Call’s offices.The arrests come after Reginald Foreman, 51, was fatally shot on Aug.6 while working with a 2nd Call team on weed abatement near 59th Place and Crenshaw Bou...