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St. Louis Man Is Innocent in 36-Year-Old Rape Case, Lawyers Say

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The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office has agreed to review the 1988 rape conviction of a man whose attorneys say was targeted by police.

Fredrico Lowe-Bey has been in prison for more than 30 years after being found guilty of raping a woman who was abducted in the early morning hours of May 21, 1988, in the city’s Tiffany neighborhood. The victim had gotten into a fight with her boyfriend and began walking home, but a man pulled up in a car, jumped out and dragged her into an alley, where he sexually assaulted her.

Lowe-Bey, then 27, was arrested the next day after the victim identified him, saying she recognized him “”from the neighborhood.” By the end of the year, he had been found guilty on three counts related to the attack, including forcible rape, forcible sodomy and tampering with a witness, and sentenced to 85 years in prison.

However, Lowe-Bey’s attorneys now say that he was targeted by two police officers, Rubin Haman and James Long, with whom he’d had prior run-ins.

Jamala Rogers, the executive director of Organization for Black Struggle, a criminal justice reform organization, says that the two arresting officers had it out for Lowe-Bey because he was a member of the Moorish Science Temple of America, an organization whose activities law enforcement have historically taken a keen interest in.

Lowe-Bey’s legal team includes Centurion Ministries, a New Jersey-based nonprofit, and Rick Sindel, a St. Louis-based attorney with a long history of post-conviction appeals.

A press release from Lowe-Bey’s attorneys says the two officers who arrested him for the rape had previously arrested him on “trumped-up” narcotics charges, a case that fell apart when it went to trial. Lowe-Bey had also previously filed an internal affairs complaint against the two men.

The 1988 rape arrest, Lowe-Bey’s attorneys say, was the result of Haman and Long’s “one year campaign to secure revenge on Lowe-Bey.” 

The jury in 1988 was not allowed to hear about Lowe-Bey’s previous drug arrest by the two officers and the subsequent acquittal.

The attorneys also say that when evidence in the rape case was tested for DNA, there were no matches to Lowe-Bey. The victim in the case also reported her attacker had “scary” freckles; Lowe-Bey’s features are unfreckled.

Rogers says that during the case, the victim became a “pawn” of the prosecution. She has since passed, leaving what Lowe-Bey’s attorneys say is “a travesty of justice behind for a new circuit attorney to sort out.”

Lowe-Bey’s legal team previously presented the case for review to the Circuit Attorney’s Office when it was run by Kim Gardner, to no avail.

Under current Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore, the Conviction Integrity Unit is run by retired Missouri Supreme Court Justice George Draper.

Asked whether Gore’s office is taking wrongful conviction reviews seriously, Rogers says, “We’ll see.”

Christine Bertelson, a spokeswoman for Gore’s office, confirms that the Conviction Integrity Unit agreed to review the case, saying, “There is no timetable for the review process, which is just beginning.” In 1991, the officers behind Lowe-Bey’s arrest, Haman and Long, were at the center of a police brutality lawsuit after roughing up a 22-year-old woman while arresting her in the Fox Park neighborhood. A jury awarded the woman $10,000 in damages.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword. 

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate. 

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault. 

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade. 

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection. 

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery. 

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.” 

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings. 

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said. 

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release. 

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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