Victim tampering suspect charged with drug, firearm violations

When Sikeston, Missouri, police caught up to a man wanted on charges related to victim tampering, they found several bags of marijuana in the apartment he had just left, according to a probable-cause affidavit filed Thursday in Scott County Circuit Court.

Stephen Kye Townsend, 23, of Sikeston was charged Monday with first-degree assault, armed criminal action and victim tampering in connection with a Dec. 27 incident in which he is accused of trying to intimidate the girlfriend of recent homicide victim Christopher Qurvon West.

Police were looking for Townsend at an apartment on West Gladys Street in Sikeston when a maintenance man told them he had seen two men jump from the window, throw down a rifle and run east from the building, according to the affidavit filed Thursday by detective Bobby Sullivan of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety.

Police found the men, later identified as Townsend and Marquon Akeem Davis, and arrested them after a foot chase, Sullivan wrote.

Officers searched the apartment, where they found several plastic bags containing what appeared to be marijuana, Sullivan wrote.

The woman who lived in the room where the marijuana was found said it belonged to Townsend, who told a detective his DNA would be on the marijuana but said it did not belong to him, Sullivan wrote.

Townsend was charged Thursday with one count each of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Police had been seeking him in connection with the Dec. 27 case, in which he was accused of driving a car that followed West's girlfriend and pulled up behind her while someone hanging out the passenger's side window fired several shots at her.

West's girlfriend told police she believed the shots were fired in retaliation for her reporting a Nov. 15 robbery in which two men, 29-year-old Gailon Lamarous Applewhite and 26-year-old Jonathan S. Wright, both of Sikeston, kicked in the door of West's home, physically assaulted his girlfriend and stole money.

Applewhite and another man, William Henry Applewhite III, 27, also of Sikeston, are wanted on murder and armed criminal action charges in connection with the Sunday shooting death of West, 31.

Anyone with information about Gailon or William Henry Applewhite is asked to call Sikeston police at 573-471-4711 or the CrimeStoppers hotline at 573-471-1500.

Police are offering a reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the murder suspects.

epriddy@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

Sikeston, MO