Clarksville, TN (March 8, 2018) BTN— Federal prosecutors on
Thursday announced another wave of charges against members of a Clarksville
motorcycle club, including new allegations of murder, kidnapping and drug
trafficking.
The charges are part of a continuing investigation into the
impact of organized crime and drug dealing in Montgomery County and Middle
Tennessee. Nineteen members and associates of the local Mongols Motorcycle Club
chapter were charged.
Fifteen of those suspects were already named in a January
indictment that included allegations of shooting a woman dead in a graveyard,
setting a business on fire and bringing more than 50 pounds of methamphetamine
into Middle Tennessee.
The new indictment adds four suspects, and accuses those men
of kidnapping and killing Stephen Cole, a fellow club member who was considered
missing for months. Biker Trash Network
The newly added suspects were:
William Nelper, aka “Flip,” 49, of Trenton, Kentucky;
William Boylston, aka “JC,” 27;
Jason Meyerholz, aka “Country,” 43; and
Christopher Wilson, 35, all of Clarksville, Tennessee.
Cole was one of the suspects in the January indictment, but authorities could not find him during their initial arrest sweep. According to a summary of the new indictment released by the U.S. Attorney's office in Nashville, those men conspired to kidnap and kill Cole on Nov. 19.
Boylston, Meyerholz and Wilson kidnapped Cole at gunpoint
and then stripped him of his shoes, wallet, and cell phones, according to the
indictment.
Then, prosecutors say, Boylston and Meyerholz took Cole to
Nelper’s home in Trenton, Kentucky, where they killed him, dumped his body and
burned the evidence.
All of the new defendants were charged with the kidnapping
that led to Cole's death. Boylston, Meyerholz and Nelper were charged with his
murder.
The second indictment also includes charges of racketeering,
money laundering and drug dealing.
If convicted, the four new suspects face a minimum of life
in prison with the possibly of the death penalty.
All but two of the remaining 15 suspects face life in prison
if convicted of the charges they face.
The Mongols identify as an “outlaw” motorcycle gang based in
California, according to authorities. The Clarksville chapter was founded in
2015, according to the indictment.
Federal investigators teamed with the Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation, Clarksville police, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and
other agencies to investigate the club's activities after a woman was found
shot to death in a graveyard in May 2015.
Prosecutors have tied the woman's death with at least two of
the 19 suspects in the case.
U.S. Attorney Don Cochran of Nashville plans to pursue
similar investigations in the future, driven by the focus on violent crime at
the U.S. Department of Justice.
Cochran's office got federal approval this year to hire two
new prosecutors focused specifically on violent crime.
SOURCE: TENNESSEAN
