Arrest of Athlete May Be Case of Mistaken Identity : Crime: Gardena football and basketball player is charged with stealing a purse at gunpoint. But basketball coach says he was participating in a playoff game.

A Gardena High football and basketball standout charged with stealing a purse from a woman at gunpoint appears to have a foolproof alibi.

Demetrius Boykins, regarded as the school’s best all-around athlete, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in South Bay Municipal Court to charges connected with the robbery, which police say occurred in Gardena at 8:35 p.m. on Feb. 15.

At the time of the crime, Gardena High was playing Manual Arts in the first round of the L.A. City Section 4-A Division basketball playoffs at Manual Arts, located just west of the Coliseum. The game, won by Manual Arts, 117-67, started at 7:30 p.m.

A scoring summary provided by Gardena showed that Boykins scored 12 points in the game.

“Believe me, I remember,” Gardena basketball Coach Rod Tange said. “Demetrius played in that game. The kids were here at school at 5:30 and we left on the bus at 6. We didn’t get back until about 10. He was with us.”

Gardena Police Detective Mike Bartlebaugh said he planned to contact Tange to determine if Boykins played in the game at the time the crime took place.

Those who know Boykins say the police have the wrong man.

“It is unbelievable, because I know he didn’t do it,” said Robin Kirksey, a friend who played with Boykins on the Gardena basketball team. “He’s a good guy. It’s not like he goes out and looks for trouble.”

Following an investigation by the Hawthorne-based West Regional Burglary Team, Boykins and three other men were arrested Friday on suspicion of committing eight armed robberies in which cash, jewelry and pro sports team jackets were taken from pedestrians. But police have not filed charges against Boykins in any of those crimes.

Instead, a charge of second-degree robbery and assault with a deadly weapon was filed Monday after the woman whose purse was stolen identified Boykins from a photograph that accompanied a local newspaper story Saturday on his arrest.

Two other suspects were released Tuesday because they were not identified by any of the victims in a police photo lineup. Boykins, 19, and his cousin, Daniel Johnson, 19, remain in custody. Boykins is being held in lieu of $30,000 bail. Johnson’s bail is set at $5,000.

Tange said the fact that Boykins was playing in a basketball game when the purse theft occurred has made him skeptical about Boykins’ alleged participation in the robberies. He now believes it might be a case of guilt by association.

“In talking to Robin (Kirksey) and some of the other kids, it seems that the guys that Demetrius was staying with were up to no good,” Tange said. “He was in the same house with them.”

Boykins has been living for the past several months with his aunt, Mary Johnson, at her house in Athens, an unincorporated area just north of Gardena where the arrests were made. Daniel Johnson is Mary Johnson’s son.

Kirksey, an All-City basketball player who has known Boykins since the seventh grade, said his friend has been hanging out with a different crowd since moving in with his aunt and cousin.

“He got mixed up in something he shouldn’t have,” Kirksey said. “It’s mostly who he was with at the time.”

Mary Johnson said Boykins was not involved in any robberies.

“I know for a fact that he wasn’t,” she said. “Why would he go out and commit a crime when he can go out and buy a sports jacket? There’s no reason for him to steal. It’s a very unfortunate thing that has happened. I hope it doesn’t affect Demetrius as far as his future is concerned.

“Demetrius is not a criminal. He goes to school. He loves sports. If the police are trying to dig up evidence, they should go after someone who has actually committed a crime.”

Gardena High coaches said news of Boykins’ arrest was surprising. Although he has had trouble in the classroom--a poor academic record prevented him from being recruited for football by Division I colleges--coaches said he was never a disciplinary problem.

“He’s never indicated to us the kind of behavior he’s all of a sudden been into now,” said Mike Sakurai, Gardena’s football and baseball coach. “He has always been a great kid. He was always at practice.

“He always seemed to know right from wrong. Maybe it was a situation where he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m hoping that’s what it was. I’m hoping he wasn’t influenced by the wrong people.”

Tange said he feels resentment and sympathy for Boykins, who comes from a broken home. Boykins has shouldered additional responsibilities since becoming a father last year. His daughter and girlfriend, a former Gardena student, do not live with him, friends said.

“I feel bad because he didn’t have a lot of support at home,” Tange said. “But it was up to him to be that much tougher. That’s what I’m disappointed in, because on the field he was as tough as you can get. He was all heart. I wish he could carry that over into his real life.”

The 6-foot, 180-pound Boykins played several positions on the football team (receiver, running back, safety) and was named the 1990 Southern League Player of the Year and was an All-City 3-A Division selection.

He was the second-leading scorer for the Mohican basketball team this past season, averaging 16.5 points.

“He led by his actions,” Sakurai said. “He could make something happen on the (football) field. He’d make an interception, or break a tackle or make a jarring hit. He was our big-play guy.

“And he was the type of athlete who could be a scholarship player in basketball, too.”

Because they feared Boykins was susceptible to outside influences, Sakurai and Tange encouraged Boykins to compete in a spring sport, either baseball or track. He failed to go out for either team, however.

“When kids have idle time, sometimes they use bad judgment,” Tange said. “We wanted to keep him involved in something that would make him come to school, because academics were never a priority with him. At least with the idea of competing in a spring sport, he would have a reason to come to school.”

Last week, Boykins missed his third-period class as a teacher’s assistant in Tange’s physical education class. Tange and Sakurai had discussed Boykins’ continued absence Friday morning. A short time later, Sakurai got a call from a reporter informing him of Boykins’ arrest.

“I assumed he was taking care of his small child or taking care of some other type of family business,” Sakurai said. “We never figured he was missing school because he was getting into trouble.”

Tange said Boykins wanted to play football next fall at a junior college in Washington state, where he hoped to isolate himself from outside influences and concentrate on improving his grades.

That dream has been put on hold.