22







Showing posts with label Indiana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indiana. Show all posts

Monday, October 10, 2022

Former Grim Reapers MC Prez Sentenced

Evansville, Indiana, USA (October 10, 2022) - A federal judge handed down a long prison sentence this week to the former president of the Grim Reapers Motorcycle Club chapter in Evansville, Indiana. On Wednesday, U.S. Southern District of Indiana Judge Richard Young sentenced Gary Forston to serve 16-and-a-half years in federal prison for his role in an alleged drug trafficking scheme.

The former GRMC president pleaded guilty to four out of the 12 counts originally listed in his indictment back in July.
 


According to the agreement, Forston admitted he conspired to distribute more than 550 grams of methamphetamine and used a firearm to further a drug trafficking operation.Forston was arrested in November 2019 after local and federal law enforcement officers swarmed the Grim Reapers' club house in the former SheLounge strip club off Diamond Avenue.

RELATED | Grim Reapers MC Members Busted In Drug Raid


At the time of the raid, Forston, a convicted felon, allegedly had in his possession a 0.40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun and Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun, leading a grand jury to indict him on weapons charges. Ten pounds of meth, 23 guns and $35,000 in cash were seized during the raid, according to then U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler. The drugs reportedly had an estimated street value of more than $250,000.

In February 2020, a federal grand jury indicted 17 people from Indiana and Kentucky, including Forston, for allegedly operating the methamphetamine trafficking ring affiliated with the motorcycle club. Of the 17 people indicted, 13 were from Evansville. When those indictments were announced, Minkler called the Grim Reapers Motorcycle club a "criminal organization."

Central Holman IV, of Owensboro Kentucky, is alleged in federal court documents to have been the club's main supplier of methamphetamine. Besides Holman and Forston, the other 15 people indicted were believed by law enforcement to be "mid-level distributors," records show.

Some of their cases are still ongoing. In September, Holman pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and was sentenced to serve 18 years in federal prison. He has since appealed his conviction, according to court records.

Source: WTVW  

Friday, September 18, 2020

Grim Reapers MC Members Busted In Drug Raid

Evansville, IN, USA (September 18, 2020) - A raid by federal law enforcement agents in Evansville is having reverberations in the drug trade that reaches from Daviess County to Mexico.

U.S. Attorney for Southern Indiana Josh Minkler announced the raids in Evansville that led to the arrest of 17 people, most of them members of the Grim Reapers Motorcycle Club.

“Drugs, guns and money have been taken off our streets,” said Minkler."This is big news. This is a big win.”



The raids in Evansville resulted in the confiscation of 23 weapons, the seizure of $35,000 and the recovery of 10 pounds of methamphetamine with a street value of $250,000.

“This is a huge victory for us,” said Drug Enforcement Agent Mike Gannon. “We’re going to identify every single one of you pushing this poison in our community. We’re going to use every resource we can and hold you accountable and put you where you belong, in jail.”

Related | Grim Reapers MC involved in federal indictment 
Related | Prez of Grim Reapers MC trial starts
Related | Feds Raid Grim Reapers Motorcycle Club

The raid is expected to have an impact on the drug trade in Daviess County.

“We do not have a direct link that we can trace to that group,” said Daviess County Sheriff Gary Allison. “But any time you can take a large amount of meth like that off the street in our region, it will have an impact. I am certain that if we were able to trace back the small bags that we recover that some of it would lead back to Evansville.”

Officials say Central Holman IV, 28, Owensboro, was the ringleader of the operation. Most of those arrested lived in Evansville and Owensboro although one man, Daniel Wiscaver, 61, Winslow, was also swept up in the raid.


The arrests and raids in Evansville were part of a larger set of indictments on drug operations that reached into California and Mexico. Eleven defendants were indicted in Evansville on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and fentanyl.

“Drug trafficking organizations operate on greed and takes advantage of the addiction problem this community, our state and our nation faces,” said Minkler. “This illegal activity cannot and will not be tolerated. I am fully committed, my office is fully committed, and the federal, state, and local law enforcement partners are fully committed, to help stop the flow of narcotics into this state and this community.”

Those indicted include two fugitives from Mexico, five from California and one each from Washington state, Tennessee, Arizona and Ohio.

Authorities say the investigations resulted in seizures of 123 pounds of methamphetamine, 769 grams of fentanyl powder, 114 fentanyl pills, 500 oxycodone pills, 345 grams of heroin and $14,346 in cash.

“The aim of these types of investigations is to remove illegal narcotics and violent drug dealers from our community and country,” said Dan McClain, US Marshal, Southern District of Indiana. “This investigation is an example of the tremendous teamwork and comradery shown by all organizations involved from start to finish.”

“These results are the reason that we are involved with these federal investigations,” said Allison. “These raids will have reach out well beyond Evansville to impact the drug trade over a large area, including ours.

But the sheriff says that even these big raids are not enough to stop the drug trade.

“I don’t think this will lead to people cooking their own meth again,” said Allison. “As long as there is a demand for meth someone new is going to step in and try to become the new supplier.” 

SOURCE: Washington Times Herald

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Indiana State trooper arrested for arson

Tell City, Indiana, USA (February 5, 2020) BTN — An Indiana State trooper has been arrested on allegations he set his own home ablaze.

Jeremy Galloway, 44, of Tell City faces two counts of felony arson, one count of felony insurance fraud and one count of felony arson with intent to defraud.


It was around 1:40 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019, when firefighters were called to Galloway’s Tell City home after a passerby spotted a fire and called 911. Crews arrived and found two fires at the property – in the home and an outbuilding, according to a state police report.

The home sustained heavy smoke and fire damage. The outbuilding and two motorcycles in it were totally destroyed, the report said.

 

The Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office was called to investigate, and it was determined the fire was caused by arson. A criminal investigation was initiated by the Indiana State Police in Jasper.

Late last month, the case was handed over to the Perry County prosecutor. On Tuesday, an arrest warrant was issued for Galloway and he was taken into custody.

Galloway is currently on administrative leave without pay, state police said.

SOURCE: Eyewitness News 25

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Hells Angel MC member arrested after car ramming

Franklin, Indiana (January 28, 2019) BTN – About 57 pounds of marijuana were found in a Franklin home early Saturday morning after police were called to the neighborhood because a vehicle was repeatedly ramming a parked car in a driveway.



The incident, which got the attention of neighbors and required the SWAT team come to the scene, unfolded in the Franklin Lakes neighborhood off U.S. 31 beginning at 2 a.m. Saturday. A resident called police to report that someone was repeatedly ramming a vehicle parked in a neighbor’s driveway, and the parked vehicle was eventually forced into the garage, damaging motorcycles that were parked inside, a Franklin Police Department report said.

After an hours-long incident, including getting a search warrant, police arrested Jamie Ray Harper on four felony charges — dealing marijuana, possession of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance and possession of a restricted drug injection device, as well as a misdemeanor charge of possession of paraphernalia.

Another resident, Christopher P. Tinney, 46, was arrested on charges of possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia, both misdemeanors.

Police saw the damaged garage door and could smell marijuana, the report said.

Harper is known to police as a member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, and the Johnson County SWAT team was called to the home as a safety precaution, the report said.

Police searched the home and found four large vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana. Together, they weighed 57 pounds, the report said. A glass pipe, scales, plastic baggies, syringes, vials labeled as testosterone and methamphetamine were also found in the home.

Harper was released from the Johnson County jail on $7,000 bond. Tinney, of Edinburgh, was held on $2,000 bond.


Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Outlaws MC: Former leader pleads guilty to racketeering

Schererville, IN. (October 3, 2018) BTN — Orville Cochran, a former leader of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club has pleaded guilty to one count in a four-count federal indictment — racketeering conspiracy. He and others are alleged to have conspired to assault and murder members of rival biker groups in Indiana in the 1990s. In 2001, a warrant was issued for Cochran’s arrest, out of Milwaukee, by the U.S. Marshals.



According to the federal indictment, Cochran and others employed by or associated with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, between January of 1988 through at least May of 2001 committed “murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, arson, attempted arson, conspiracy to commit arson, extortion, attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion and narcotics trafficking in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New York and Wisconsin — with the defendants agreeing that a conspirator would commit at least two acts of racketeering.

During this time period, the indictment says Cochran was a member or president of the Chicago Southside Chapter of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club — part of the “Midwestern White Region” of the international organization.

The indictment says the Outlaws had a longstanding rivalry with the Hell’s Angels biker club and their affiliates, and until around 1993, the Outlaws controlled the Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana territory — with the closest Hell’s Angels chapter located in Minneapolis. In late 1993 or early 1994, leaders of the Outlaws believed the Hell’s Angels might be trying to gain a presence in the Outlaw’s “White Region” territory by “patching over” one of their affiliates that was present in Chicago, Rockford, Calumet City, Ill. and South Bend, Ind.

Outlaws members agreed “they would engage in a series of assaults” against the “Hell’s Henchmen” and other affiliates to discourage them from becoming Hell’s Angels chapters, and to prevent the Hell’s Angels from infiltrating their territory. They also agreed they would support other Outlaws chapters dealing with similar rivalries — considering themselves to be “at war” with rival biker clubs.

According to federal prosecutors “in furtherance of this war, various members of the White Region committed racketeering offenses.”

In June of 1994, Cochran and other Outlaws traveled to the Illiana Motor Speedway in Schererville, Ind. “to assault rival bikers” at an event known as “Summer Madness.” The then-Outlaws VP told investigators the “assaults” could include beating the rival bikers, running them over with a car or motorcycle or shooting them “to discourage Hell’s Angels affiliate club members from continuing to associate with the Hell’s Angels — and send a message to the Hell’s Angels that their presence would not be tolerated in Outlaws territory.

The indictment notes Outlaws members from Milwaukee and Wisconsin planned to attend this event — with CCW permit holders “directed to arm themselves” and two vans, one armored from Milwaukee, containing firearms and other weapons, were brought to Indiana as part of the “Outlaws caravan” to the speedway.

The night before the event, the indictment says Outlaws members learned their regional boss had been shot and seriously injured while riding on the Dan Ryan expressway in Chicago after leaving an event at the Gary clubhouse in Indiana. Outlaws members believed the Hell’s Henchmen were responsible — with the Hell’s Angels courting them. The Outlaws’ animosity for the Hell’s Angels grew after this incident.

On June 26, 1994, the boss of the Gary Outlaws assembled the group in Gary for the ride to the speedway. There, they set up their two armored vans, and duties were assigned to the members in attendance. An Outlaws member said the Indianapolis chapter boss said if rival bikers were present, Outlaws “were to shoot to kill.”

According to the indictment, during the event, Outlaws approached an ATF agent and some sheriff’s deputies and asked why the ATF wasn’t in Chicago “arresting Hell’s Henchmen,” stating that if rival bikers showed up “there would be dead bodies all around.”

As it turned out, no rival bikers showed up, and the Outlaws packed up and left. The procession was followed, and the second armored van ended up stopped by police. A driver and five passengers from the Milwaukee Outlaws chapter were inside, along with numerous weapons and rounds of ammunition.

In June of 1996, the indictment says Cochran and other Outlaws traveled to the US 41 International Dragway in Morocco, Ind., “to assault and kill members of rival biker groups.” This, after the Outlaws learned the Hell’s Angels had a big presence at this event in 1995, and they reserved several hundred tickets for 1996. Two old surplus-type police vehicles were used for security by the Outlaws at the event — with firearms concealed inside.

Ultimately, rain resulted in the cancellation of the event — and most people left, but the Outlaws remained for three days. No rival bikers showed up.

Cochran faces up to 20 years in prison, and $250,000 in fines, along with a $100 special assessment and three years of supervised release.

SOURCE: Fox6 Now