Three Men Arrested in Pico Neighborhood

By Jorge Casuso

July 15 – Two men arrested, then released, in connection to a string of shootings in the Pico Neighborhood last year were arrested once again Sunday during a narcotics raid. A third man was arrested four days earlier in connection to a shooting last month.

Terrence Brown, 24, was arrested for alleged possession of cocaine as he drove his car through the Pico Neighborhood at 5 a.m. Sunday morning.

Fifteen minutes later, Ashia Boldware, 21, was arrested in an apartment in a crime-riddled 1800 block of 17th street for alleged possession of marijuana and possession of a firearm.

Boldware was arrested after police used a search warrant to enter the apartment at 5:15 a.m., police said. Police also recovered an undisclosed amount of U.S. currency, said Lt. Frank Fabrega, the police department spokesman.

Two small children inside the residence were taken into protective custody and later released to the Department of Child Social Services, Fabrega said.

No bail was set because Boldware was on felony probation in connection to a weapons violation, police said.

Boldware’s arrest came shortly after a surveillance team watching the apartment saw a vehicle they believed had a wanted person inside leave the location. The team radioed officers, who pulled the car over on the 2000 block of Olympic Avenue, Fabrega said.

Inside were Brown and Desiree Lenore Wright, a 45-year-old Santa Monica resident. Police searched the vehicle and recovered cocaine.

Brown and Wright were arrested, and bail for each was set at $10,000.
Boldware and Brown were both arrested in May 2003 in connection to a gang-related shooting spree that stung the crime-riddled neighborhood between May 9 and June 5, but resulted in no injuries.

Police alleged that Boldware was involved with or had information about the shootings, but brought no new case to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office, which did not press charges.

Brown was arrested last year near his father’s home on the 1800 block of 17th Street. After the arrest, a search warrant was obtained, and police found a firearm and approximately 100 rounds of live ammunition.

The DA, however, declined to press charges for insufficient evidence.

Four days before Sunday’s arrests and just two blocks away, police picked up Kendrick Dove, 21, who was wanted in connection with another shooting on the 1800 block of 17th street, this one last month.

Dove was arrested on July 7 at 8:05 p.m. as he was walking on the 1900 block of Delaware, police said.