Prep Football Star Pleads Innocent to Robbery Charge

A star Leuzinger High School football player has been charged with robbery for allegedly tying up and then robbing a Redondo Beach woman who was trying to be a good Samaritan by helping him bandage his bleeding hand.

Sean Powell, 18, pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that he and two other teen-agers forced their way into the 64-year-old woman’s Dufour Avenue condominium, bound and gagged her and her husband and then ransacked the unit, making off with about $10,000 in cash and jewelry.

After the March 1 incident, detectives used fingerprints found on duct tape used to bind the couple to track down a 17-year-old suspect. Detectives followed him and saw him meet with Powell, who matched the physical description of one of their other assailants.

Both Powell and the 17-year-old, whose name is being withheld because he is a juvenile, were arrested Friday, Sgt. Rick Peterson said. Police are seeking the third suspect.

Powell, a 6-foot-2, 250-pound senior linebacker, was named Bay League lineman of the year in December and was placed on The Times’ South Bay All-Star football team.

Powell also was named to the Bay League’s first-team offense in 1990. Area coaches singled him out for his play on offense and defense.

But academic problems reportedly kept Powell from meriting major college attention and he planned to attend El Camino College in the coming academic year.

According to police reports, Powell used recent surgery on one of his hands to gain sympathy from the woman, who saw that his hand was bleeding and went into her condominium to get him a bandage.

After she helped bind the cut, two other assailants suddenly walked up, pulled a gun and forced her back into her home and onto the floor. Her 64-year-old husband also was ordered to the floor when he walked in from another room.

The three robbers spent about half an hour ransacking the condominium before fleeing, according to the police report. Shortly afterward, the husband managed to free himself and went to a neighbor for help.

Powell, who was released on $25,000 bail Tuesday, is scheduled to appear at a March 23 preliminary hearing in South Bay Municipal Court.