Lack of cash keeps Fort Worth ex-gangster turned activist in Johnson County jail cell
She wrote on her husband’s behalf but also on behalf of the community that Abdul Chappell was trying to serve before he was arrested.
Chappell has been in jail since February, trying to get his bond lowered from $200,000, awaiting trial without a conviction on the current charges arrayed against him.
“I’ve sold everything we own,” says Kimberly Gheen, Chappell’s wife. “His car. My jeep. Gotten a multitude of payday loans. His parents are on a fixed income so they can’t help. His mom is very ill.”
Gheen said she has raised $5,000 on her own, but that is still light-years away from what is needed to bond Chappell out. She has set up a GoFundMe page at gofundme.com/23ursjdw
“The people we deal with are not wealthy people and we help them and it’s kind of a lot to ask them to help us now,” Gheen said.
Chappell, 47, has a drug abuse problem concerning methamphetamine, and was in a rehabilitation program before he was sent back to jail, his attorney, Larry Jarrett, and his wife say.
Calls to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office seeking comment were not immediately returned.
“Our focus should be on trying to address the substance abuse issues,” Jarrett said. “If we address that and work on that, this man will go forward and he will not have to come back before the court.”
Chappell was a committee member of Las Vegas Trail Revitalization Project, known as LVT Rise, a partnership of private companies, human service organizations and government agencies.
Chappell said he became discouraged awaiting funding to expand his projects that never materialized, and he and LVT Rise separated.
Chappell grew up on Las Vegas Trail, but became involved in gang life as a teen and spent stints in prison totaling 21 years. Since his release from federal prison in 2014 and before he went back to jail, Chappell devoted the bulk of his time to helping area residents through his We Can Build A Better Hood Foundation.
‘Now, his voice has been silenced’
Chappell went first to Tarrant County jail on a marijuana possession charge, which is still pending.
Then, Chappell was incarcerated in the Johnson County jail on Sept. 18 for violating conditions of his bond on drug- and weapons-related charges related to a February 2018 arrest in the county, according to court documents. Shortly after his latest arrest, his bond was increased from $100,000 to $200,000.
Chappell’s bond was lowered to $125,000 and he was released in September, but he tested positive for methamphetamine in February, Gheen said. Chappell was arrested and jailed again, and his bond was again increased to $200,000, according to court documents.
Chappell is a nonviolent offender who has been working to better his community, first with LVT Rise and then with his own organization, We Can Build a Better Hood Foundation, Jarrett said. The Johnson County courts have not given Chappell’s charitable work, nor his substance abuse issues, much weight, according to Jarrett.
“He had been admitted to a rehabilitation center and had a bed waiting for him, but the judge did not agree with us,” Jarrett said. “So now we have to weigh our other options.”
John Neill, the state district judge who heard Chappell’s case in the beginning, has become an appellate judge, which has meant the case has lost some continuity, Jarrett said.
But even so, Jarrett argued, a $200,000 bond set for non-violent bond violations is too high.
“Abdul Chappell should be released under a substantially lower bond,” Jarrett said. “In any other county this man would have already been released.”
Meanwhile, Chappell’s charitable work is dormant, his wife said.
“He’s been feeding and clothing babies, teaching them alternatives to violence and the street life,” Gheen said. “He’s been doing everything he can to clean up the Las Vegas Trail. Now, his voice has been silenced.”
This story was originally published April 12, 2019 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Lack of cash keeps Fort Worth ex-gangster turned activist in Johnson County jail cell."
