Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
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The incident reportedly happened on Saturday, April 15, at about 6 p.m. Amanda Brier, also known as Amanda Browder, age 26 of Lexington, along with a 17-year-old man, and a 16-year old minor, who turned 17 on Sunday, allegedly assaulted the 16-year old victim in order to initiate him into the Crips.
The officers’ report said that once at the residence, the minor was not allowed to leave and was struck numerous times by two males with Browder participating in the assault. The 16-year-old received many bruises on his chest, arms and back.
While investigating the assault, Sgt. Lindsey received information that resulted in an additional investigation of Browder, who allegedly engaged in sexual intercourse with a minor. Sgt. Lindsey received a statement from the male victim of sexual assault, as well as from Browder. A warrant for sexual assault of a child was served on Browder in the early hours of Monday April 17, 2006 and she was transported to the Lee County Jail. The charge of sexual assault of a minor is a 2nd degree felony which, if convicted, could carry a 2 to 20 year jail sentence and up to a $10,000 fine.
Additional charges have been filed against Browder for engaging in organized criminal activity, which is a 3rd degree felony and, if convicted, could carry a sentence of 2 to 10 years and up to a $10,000 fine.
According to Chief Randall Davis, the purpose of the Crips and other gangs is to control territory. “Where there are gang problems, there are usually drug problems and increased criminal activity. This was an amateurish attempt to start this gang in Lexington. This kind of gang activity is mostly seen in larger cities and membership in this or any gang normally ends up with jail time,” Chief Davis said.
Initiation into the Crips, according to Chief Davis, requires being “beat in”, where membership requires other gang members to literally beat a prospective member for an undetermined length of time. The Crips originally started in Los Angeles, California more than 20 years ago.