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Thread: Mark Dencklau and Chad Leroy Erickson Sentenced to Life in Prison in 2015 OR Murder of Robert Lee Huggins

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    Mark Dencklau and Chad Leroy Erickson Sentenced to Life in Prison in 2015 OR Murder of Robert Lee Huggins




    Three men face federal murder-in-aid-of-racketeering charges in 2015 death of ex-Gypsy Joker

    By Maxine Bernstein
    The Oregonian/OregonLive

    Three men accused of torturing and murdering a former member of their Gypsy Jokers motorcycle club now face federal murder in aid of racketeering and kidnapping charges that could bring a life prison term or death sentence if convicted.

    Mark Leroy Dencklau, 56, of Woodburn, Earl Deverle Fisher, 48, of Gresham, and Tiler Evan Pribbernow, 37, of Portland this week entered not guilty pleas to a four-count indictment, charging each with murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping in aid of racketeering resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death and conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death.

    The federal indictments come just weeks before the three were set to go to trial in Multnomah County court on murder and other felony charges.

    On Tuesday, state prosecutors dismissed the charges pending against each, including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping and solicitation allegations, said Kirsten Snowden, Multnomah County chief deputy district attorney.

    The three are accused of acting together to kill Robert Lee Huggins, 56, in the summer of 2015 "to maintain and advance their positions in the Gypsy Joke Outlaw motorcycle gang,'' said John P. Cronan, an assistant attorney general of the U.S. Justice Department's criminal division.

    Huggins' body was found by loggers on July 1, 2015, minutes after it was dumped in a Clark County field. He had a fractured skull, a broken rib, a broken leg, a removed nipple, nails driven through his boots, slash wounds to his back and face, and many blows to his face.

    Police believe Huggins was the target of a revenge killing. Police said the defendants acted together to kidnap Huggins from a Southeast Portland home by knocking him on the head with a hard object and zip-tying him; killing him on a rural property near Woodland, Washington; and then dumping his body in a field near Ridgefield, Washington.

    Police and prosecutors contend that the men were seeking revenge against Huggins for burglarizing the Woodburn home of the local Gypsy Jokers president, Dencklau, and tying Dencklau's girlfriend to a chair at gunpoint in June 2015.

    Police believe Huggins had committed the home-invasion robbery in retaliation for a brutal beating he suffered in 2014 when he was kicked out of the outlaw motorcycle gang. Club members took Huggins' motorcycle and truck as they ousted him from the club -- because they believed he'd stolen thousands of dollars from the club to support his heroin habit, police said.

    After a bail hearing last summer, a Multnomah County judge did not find that the legal standard had been met to hold the men without bail based on a state's theory that they had "intentionally caused the death" of Huggins -- in other words, that they set out to murder him.

    But the judge did conclude that the standard had been met to keep the men locked up based on a second murder theory -- that they intentionally kidnapped Huggins and caused his death after kidnapping him.

    With the federal murder in aid of racketeering charge, prosecutors must show the defendants acted together to kill another person out of their allegiance to a violent enterprise, the gang.

    "Pursuing organized criminal organizations and individual members that commit violent crimes and threaten public safety is a top priority for the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Oregon,'' Oregon's U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams said.

    Portland police, along with federal agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, investigated the case, with help from the Clark County Sheriff's Office, and Washington and Oregon crime labs.

    https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/..._murder-i.html
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    November 28, 2018

    Gypsy Joker Plea Deal

    The Aging Rebel

    Tiler Evan Pribbernow, an alleged associate of the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club from Portland, Oregon, pled guilty November 7 to one count of racketeering conspiracy. As part of the agreement with federal prosecutors, charges of Kidnapping and murder in aid of racketeering activity are being dismissed.

    Pribbernow, along with Gypsy Jokers Mark Leroy Dencklau and Earl Devearl Fisher was indicted by a federal grand jury last July for the 2015 kidnapping and murder of a former member of the club named Robert Lee “Bagger Bobby” Huggins.

    Criminal Enterprise

    Huggins was a former chapter treasurer who stole club funds to support his heroin habit. He was kicked out of the club in 2014. The next year, he broke into Dencklau’s home, tied Dencklau’s girlfriend to a chair, threatened her with a gun and stole Dencklau’s property. Police allege Huggins was tortured before he was killed. A state investigation into Huggins’ murder remained stalled for almost three years.

    The federal case accuses the Gypsy Joker of being a racist, sexist, criminal enterprise.

    “Violations of the code may result in fines, probation, expulsion, a new prospecting period, or acts of violence against the violator.”

    “Membership in the GJOMC is available only to men over the age of 21. The GJOMC excludes African Americans, law enforcement officers, homosexuals, and intravenous drug users from membership. Members must own an American made motorcycle.” The Department of Justice insists that the club should properly be called, in the Australian manner, the “Gypsy Joker Outlaw Motorcycle Club” because the addition of the word “outlaw” makes the club sound more criminal than the government can prove with mere evidence.

    Conspiracy

    The indictment alleges that “members of the enterprise and their associates trafficked in methamphetamine and marijuana.”

    The government has charged, and presumably Pribbernow has also now alleged, that rather than being murdered as an act of vigilante justice Huggins was murdered “for the purpose of maintaining and increasing position in the GJOMC, an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity.”

    Details of Pribbernow’s agreement are not available.

    Dencklau and Fisher are scheduled for trial next month.

    https://www.agingrebel.com/17235

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    June 27, 2019

    Gypsy Joker Outlaw Motorcycle Club member pleads guilty to racketeering conspiracy

    By Maxine Bernstein
    The Oregonian

    Gresham resident Earl D. Fisher, one of the Gypsy Joker Outlaw Motorcycle Club members, on Thursday pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in racketeering in connection with the 2015 kidnapping and murder of a former club member.

    Fisher, 49, is the second member of the motorcycle club to enter a guilty plea in the case. Racketeering, murder and kidnapping charges are pending against five others, who are scheduled for trial Aug. 31.

    As part of his plea agreement, Fisher acknowledged that the motorcycle club, from at least January 2008 until October 2018, was an “outlaw” organization whose members followed a written code of conduct, wielding their power through intimidation, violence and murder while enriching themselves through extortion, robbery and drug distribution.

    The racketeering charges stem from the 2015 kidnapping and killing of Robert “Bagger” Huggins, 56.

    Portland’s Gypsy Joker president Mark Leroy Dencklau ordered the attack on Huggins and others helped, according to another co-defendant, Tiler Evan Pribbernow, who has cooperated with the government and also pleaded guilty to racketeering.

    The June 30, 2015, kidnapping and subsequent killing was in retaliation for Huggins’ burglary and robbery at Dencklau’s Woodburn home earlier that month, the government has alleged.

    Loggers found Huggins’ battered body dumped in a Clark County field. He had a fractured skull, a broken rib, a broken leg, a removed nipple, nails driven through his boots, slash wounds to his back and face and many blows to his face, authorities said.

    Huggins had targeted Dencklau’s home after getting kicked out of the club for stealing and breaking club rules, prosecutors have said. Dencklau’s then-girlfriend was tied up and Huggins stole some of Dencklau’s property, including guns, according to the government.

    Fisher acknowledged his involvement in the club’s crimes, including the murder and kidnapping, according to court papers.

    After arrests were made, investigators discovered jail notes passed between Dencklau and Fisher that helped tie them to Huggins’ killing, according to prosecutors.

    Fisher had handwritten notes that he shared with Dencklau while behind bars discussing the 2015 beating of Huggins, the taking of his property and his killing, according to an indictment.

    Dencklau wrote to Fisher, “If we’re both hoping to be in a situation where we can testify in front of the jury, our testimony needs to be similar.”

    Dencklau also cautioned Fisher to make sure the letters were “destroyed and gotten rid of."

    "The last thing we need is something like that coming back to haunt us,” he wrote, according to the indictment.

    Fisher is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 10 before U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones.

    The racketeering conspiracy offense brings a maximum sentence of life in prison. If Fisher continues to accept responsibility pending sentencing, prosecutors said they’ll recommend a low-end sentence.

    As part of Fisher’s plea, the government is also seeking forfeiture of the Gypsy Joker "Salem clubhouse'' at 2800 Brooks Ave. N.E., according to court documents.

    https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/201...onspiracy.html

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    July 26, 2019

    Feds won’t pursue death penalty in Gypsy Joker Outlaw Motorcycle kidnapping, murder conspiracy cases

    By Maxine Bernstein
    The Oregonian/OregonLive

    The U.S. attorney general has directed federal prosecutors in Oregon not to seek the death penalty in the kidnapping, torture-style murder and racketeering conspiracy cases pending against accused members of the Gypsy Joker Outlaw Motorcycle Club.

    The decision was forwarded July 1 to the Oregon judge handling the case -- that’s about 3 ½ weeks before Attorney General William P. Barr announced Thursday that the federal government would resume death penalty executions after a 16-year hiatus.

    No offenders prosecuted in Oregon currently are on federal death row.

    In the motorcycle club prosecution, the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., reviewed the case and made a recommendation.

    Steven Mygrant, a federal prosecutor in Oregon, then informed U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones.

    “The government will not be seeking the death penalty against indicted and death-eligible defendants Earl Fisher, Mark Dencklau, Tiler Pribbernow, Ryan Negrinelli, Chad Erickson, or Joseph Folkerts,” Mygrant wrote.

    Mygrant’s letter this month didn’t explain what led to the decision and federal officials declined further comment.

    Two of the six who are charged in both the racketeering conspiracy and the killing of a former club member have entered guilty pleas to racketeering. They are Pribbernow and Fisher.

    A seventh defendant, Kenneth Earl Hause, the national president of the outlaw motorcycle club, wasn’t charged with a death penalty-eligible offense and is accused only in the racketeering conspiracy.

    The judge had pressed prosecutors to decide as soon as possible whether to seek the death penalty.

    The racketeering charges stem from the 2015 kidnapping and death of Robert “Bagger” Huggins, 56.

    Portland’s Gypsy Joker president Mark Leroy Dencklau was accused of ordering the 2015 kidnapping and killing of Huggins, according to Pribbernow, who has cooperated with the government. Others carried it out, he said.

    The attack was in retaliation for Huggins’ robbery at Dencklau’s Woodburn home earlier that month, the government has alleged.

    The prosecution’s case largely rests on Pribbernow, the man who wielded the fatal blow with a baseball strike to the head, according to lawyer Matthew Schindler, who represents co-defendant Negrinelli.

    Schindler said he believes the government recognized that “the optics of attempting to execute those with lesser roles when it had already waived the death penalty for Pribbernow were problematic.’’

    The move also gives the government a tactical advantage because additional defense lawyers with expertise in capital murder cases usually are removed from the defense teams once the death penalty is off the table, Schindler said.

    In 2014, then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder directed federal prosecutors in Oregon not to seek the death penalty against two white supremacists, David “Joey” Pedersen and Holly Ann Grigsby, indicted on racketeering conspiracy and other charges in the killing of four people in three states.

    But that case was jeopardized by government and state police mishandling of evidence, according to a federal judge. Ultimately, Pedersen and Grigsby entered guilty pleas and were sentenced to life in prison.

    The federal government has executed three inmates since it reinstated the death penalty in 1988, including Timothy J. McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, in 2001.

    https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/201...acy-cases.html

  5. #5
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    November 30, 2021

    Portland president of Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club guilty on all counts in racketeering trial; jury acquits club’s national president

    By Maxine Bernstein
    The Oregonian/OregonLive

    A federal jury on Tuesday returned a mixed verdict, finding the president of the Portland chapter of the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club, Mark Leroy Dencklau, guilty of racketeering conspiracy and murder and kidnapping in aid of racketeering for the torture killing of an ex-member in 2015.

    But the jury acquitted the club’s national president, Kenneth Earl Hause, known as “The Wiz,’’ of the single racketeering conspiracy charge he faced.

    The jury also found club member Chad Leroy Erickson guilty of murder and kidnapping in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to kidnap and kidnapping resulting in death but not guilty of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy.

    The jury of 10 men and two women returned the verdicts after four days of deliberations following a five-week trial that relied largely on the testimony of six insiders and associates.

    U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman, who missed the first week of testimony after contracting COVID-19 but presided over the rest of the trial, read the verdict in his 16th floor courtroom about 4 p.m. The deliberations were suspended for nine days during Thanksgiving week and resumed Monday.

    Hause, 64, emerged from the courtroom triumphant, hugging family and friends, as Dencklau, 59, and Erickson, 51, were returned to custody.

    “This man is going to be able to get back on his motorcycle and go back to being a proud member of the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club,’’ said Hause’s lawyer, Todd Bofferding.

    Bofferding credited his client’s acquittal to the “fact that he had absolutely nothing to do with what happened” to Robert “Bagger” Huggins Jr.

    Huggins, a disgraced Joker member pushed out of the club in 2014 after he stole money from the Portland clubhouse till to feed a heroin habit, was beaten and killed on June 30, 2015, in a shed in Washington state in retribution for robbing Dencklau’s Woodburn home earlier that month, prosecutors said.

    Prosecutors described the club as an “outlaw gang” that engaged in years of brazen assaults. Prosecutors and some of the former members and their associates said the Jokers knocked out people’s teeth or struck them with wrenches if they crossed the club, delivered punches that left black eyes on comrades who violated club rules, stole motorcycles of ousted members who were declared “out bad,” used and dealt methamphetamine, marijuana and cocaine, robbed homes, tampered with witnesses and tortured Huggins to death.

    Club members or their associates committed crimes to boost their status in the organization and retaliated “quickly and violently” when anyone disrespected them, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah Bolstad told jurors during her closing argument. They ran out of a ramshackle clubhouse on Portland’s Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and other clubhouses across the Pacific Northwest in Salem, Klamath Falls, Seattle and Spokane.

    “It’s a gang that’s about power and control,” Bolstad said. “In a word, they are bullies.’’

    But the club’s control crumbled when Tiler Pribbernow, a member of the support Road Brothers Motorcycle Club, started cooperating with police, Bolstad said. Pribbernow, a co-defendant who has already pleaded guilty, testified that he beat Huggins with a baseball bat at the direction of Portland leader Dencklau.

    Bolstad urged the jury to end the club’s years of “terrorizing our communities.”

    Pribbernow, the state’s lead witness, testified that the club’s manhunt for Huggins and his killing were “Mark’s show,” saying Dencklau orchestrated it in retaliation for Huggins’ burglary of Dencklau’s Woodburn home. Huggins had tied up Dencklau’s then-girlfriend during the break-in and took money and property from the home, Pribbernow said.

    Dencklau was in the shed in Woodland, Washington, where Huggins was taken and tortured, Pribbernow said. It was Dencklau who told him to issue the fatal blows, Pribbernow said.

    “I was doing exactly what he said,” Pribbernow testified.

    Dencklau, the only one of the three men on trial to take the witness stand, denied he had anything to do with Huggins’ killing and said he was partying at multiple strip clubs in Southeast Portland on the night Huggins died and into the early morning the next day. He called Pribbernow and other co-defendants who cooperated with the government “liars.”

    He testified that he never believed that Huggins broke into his house, noting that his ex-girlfriend had stolen from him in the past and may have made up the story.

    Bolstad urged jurors to consider Dencklau’s own words on the witness stand, when he acknowledged that club rules emphasize: “We don’t tell on each other.”

    “That’s why this criminal enterprise has been so successful for the past 20 years,” Bolstad said.

    One man called to testify by the government refused to do so, even when the judge granted him immunity and ordered him to answer questions. He was immediately taken to jail and remained there for 20 days, accused of criminal contempt of a court order. He was released from jail on Nov. 22, just before Thanksgiving, pending his own trial.

    Defense lawyers belittled the government for building its case largely around the testimony of Pribbernow, the undisputed most culpable person in Huggins’ killing. Pribbernow admitted hitting Huggins in the head with a baseball bat in what he described on the witness stand as a golf-like “chip shot” after waterboarding Huggins and cutting off Huggins’ nipples in the Washington shed.

    “The government based its case on a sadistic killer,” said Richard Wolf, Erickson’s lawyer. “That’s whose wagon they hitched their case to.”

    The defense lawyers argued that investigators coached and coerced Pribbernow’s cooperating co-defendants to match Pribbernow’s account of the kidnapping and killing of Huggins after threatening that they would face true life in prison or a potential death sentence if they didn’t talk.

    They presented to jurors an email Bolstad sent to a defense attorney for Ray Rockafellor II, one of the cooperating defendants. Bolstad shared statements Pribbernow had made to police about the Huggins’ killing and asked the defense lawyer if Rockafellor might have other details to share.

    “See examples from the other cooperating statements -- feel free to use those to jog his memory,” Bolstad wrote in the email.

    As Wolf put it, Pribbernow and the other cooperators learned to “sing the song that the government wants to hear.”

    “Mr. Pribbernow was trying to maximize his value to the government so he could literally get away with murder,” said Erik Eklund, one of Dencklau’s lawyers.

    The defense lawyers also tore into the government’s investigation by accusing the lead Portland detective of using improper tactics to coerce defendants to talk during his interrogations and not respecting one co-defendant’s request for a lawyer after his arrest.

    “When a suspect in custody asks for a lawyer, questioning should cease,” Wolf said.

    Detective Jim Lawrence, now retired from the Portland Police Bureau and working for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, used the same train analogy that got him into trouble in the past to convince at least one defendant to cooperate with police, telling him that he’d better get on the train now or get run down by it, according to trial evidence.

    The Oregon Supreme Court in 2018 tossed out an alleged confession that Lawrence said he obtained in an unrelated murder case when he used the train analogy during an interrogation of a suspect.

    Lawrence also told one defendant in this case that under the federal system, a defense attorney wouldn’t be available for him until his first appearance in federal court the following afternoon, which isn’t true.

    Lawyers for Dencklau, Erickson and Hause also repeatedly highlighted that federal investigators and prosecutors never recorded any of their final interviews with the six cooperating defendants, despite U.S. Department of Justice policy that encourages interviews be recorded in investigative circumstances.

    In several cases, the detectives didn’t even write up their reports on the interviews until five or more months later.

    Defense lawyers told jurors that the racketeering case was an example of government overreach.

    “This is about nothing less than ending the Gypsy Jokers,” Eklund said. Investigators are inherently suspicious of men who ride motorcycles fast and wear leather vests, jeans and heavy boots, he said.

    Lisa Ludwig, another of Dencklau’s lawyers, called to the witness stand a man in custody on an unrelated federal drug trafficking conviction, Sean Smith, who testified that Earl Fisher, a cooperating co-defendant in the Gypsy Joker case, told him in jail that Dencklau wasn’t present during Huggins’ killing.

    Bofferding, Hause’s lawyer, argued that little evidence existed to support a racketeering conspiracy, contending that the crimes described at trial were definitely not for the benefit of the club. He said the government failed to discuss the club’s written rules No. 9 and No. 11, which called for no illegal activity on club property and no use of the club for personal gain.

    “That guts their case,” he said. “The crimes are individual acts of individual men who just so happen to be members of a motorcycle club.”

    Bofferding said what the men on trial really have in common is they “like to ride fast, no matter the weather.”

    Erickson’s lawyers argued that Erickson was merely present at the site of the beating and killing of Huggins but didn’t participate, though Pribbernow testified that Erickson carved an X into Huggins’ chest with a hook knife during the torture in the shed.

    Eklund, Denklau’s lawyer, argued that the testimony of the cooperating defendants was “literally bought and paid for,” noting the estimated $125,000 that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives paid to help five witnesses or their families.

    That included about $75,000 to Dencklau’s ex-girlfriend who was moved out of state and $15,000 to Pribbernow’s family, also moved out of state for safety. Some of the money covered witnesses’ moves, their stays in long-term motels or first-and-last months of rent, meals and utilities for those put up in apartments. Lawrence, the detective, intervened to help one witness, a man who acknowledged beating his wife, in the man’s child custody dispute.

    “They’re beholden to the government,” Wolf said of the cooperating co-defendants. “How well they cooperate is factored into the sentence they receive.”

    Prosecutors reminded jurors what Dencklau wrote in jail notes he passed to co-defendant Fisher.

    “If we’re both hoping to be in a situation where we can testify in front of the jury, our testimony needs to be similar,” Dencklau wrote. “‘I don’t remember,’ can work in a lot of cases where there’s doubt. Let’s beat this (expletive) and go home. Loyalty Forever 710.” The numbers 7 and 10 stand for the number of letters “G” and “J” in the alphabet, representing the signature of a Gypsy Joker, according to court testimony.

    During rebuttal, prosecutor Damare Theriot said investigators homed in on Pribbernow after a lucky break when an officer listened to a call between Pribbernow and his girlfriend, who was in jail, after Huggins’ killing.

    The girlfriend wanted to know why Pribbernow didn’t come home the night of June 30, 2015. He said he couldn’t tell her, but when pushed, asked her if she remembered the man being sought by Earl, referring to Earl Fisher. They had found him, Pribbernow told her, according to the recorded jail call played in court.

    Prosecutors further accused Dencklau of soliciting a man in jail in 2018 who was a member of the Irish Pride gang and went by the nickname “Short Fuse” to “take care of” Pribbernow because he messed up by making a “bad phone call.” But Mychael Lee, aka “Short Fuse,” when called to testify, said it was his idea to bring two knives to get it done, though he said nothing was “set in stone.”

    “We talked about it,” Lee said. “That was it.’’

    Defense lawyers said they believe it was Fisher “who did in Bobby Huggins, using Tiler Pribbernow, a nonmember.”

    Theriot said the government doesn’t get to choose the witnesses they must work with.

    Jurors asked several questions during deliberations: Whether the racketeering conspiracy count has to be for a specific crime? The answer: It had to include one of the specific racketeering crimes of murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion, distribution of a controlled substance or witness tampering. They also asked: Are club membership dues considered property? The court answered yes.

    On Monday, jurors asked how they proceed if “we are in agreement” on some counts but in disagreement on others? The judge directed the jury to keep deliberating. On Tuesday, a jury note asked for the federal definition of racketeering.

    After the verdicts were read in court, Eklund said he expects to file an appeal on Dencklau’s behalf, noting that the defense lawyers had urged a mistrial after the judge contracted COVID-19 and due to other coronavirus-related concerns.

    Dencklau also lost one of his three lawyers in the midst of the trial after one of the lawyer’s relatives tested positive.

    “It’s a tough day but really the first step toward what we think will be Mr. Dencklau’s vindication,” Eklund said.

    Attorney Thomas Coan, one of Erickson’s lawyers, said his team is “really disappointed” because they had hoped the jury would recognize that Erickson didn’t participate in Huggins’ beating or death.

    Pribbernow, 40, Fisher, 52, Ryan Anthony Negrinelli, 38, Joseph Duane Folkerts, 64, Ian Christopher Jung, 44, Ray Loren Rockafellor II, 52, have all pleaded guilty to conspiring to participate in a racketeering enterprise and await sentencing.

    “These are kidnappers. These are murders. These are robbers. These are intimidators of witnesses. That’s who these defendants are,” Theriot told jurors. “That’s who the Gypsy Jokers are.”

    The judge set sentencing for Dencklau and Erickson on Feb. 28. Both men face a mandatory minimum of life in prison without parole for the murder and kidnapping in aid of racketeering convictions.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ore...outputType=amp

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    2 Gypsy Joker gang members get life in federal prison for kidnapping, murdering former member

    By Virginia Barreda
    Salem Statesman Journal

    Two members of the Gypsy Joker Outlaw Motorcycle Club were sentenced to life in federal prison Thursday for kidnapping, torturing and murdering former Portland club member Robert Huggens in 2015.

    Portland clubhouse president Mark Leroy Dencklau, 61, of Woodburn, and clubhouse member Chad Leroy Erickson, 51, of Rainier, face life in prison after jurors found them guilty of murder in aid of racketeering; kidnapping in aid of racketeering, resulting in death; kidnapping resulting in death; and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, resulting in death, in December according to a release Thursday from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Oregon. Dencklau was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy, while Erickson was acquitted of the same charge.

    “Mark Dencklau and Chad Erickson will rightfully serve the rest of their lives in federal prison," Scott Asphaug, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, said in a statement. "These men prided themselves in using violence to intimidate others and increase their power and influence among club members and rivals. Organized violent crime has no place in Oregon and will not be tolerated."

    The club is described as a hierarchical criminal organization where members maintained their status by participating in acts of racketeering including murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion and narcotics trafficking, according to court documents and trial testimony.

    Since the 1980s, the club has been active in several states including Oregon and Washington and, until recently, operated six clubhouses in the Pacific Northwest, including one in Salem. The club also has international chapters in Germany, Australia and Norway, according to U.S. Department of Justice officials.

    The club oversaw multiple support clubs in Oregon and Washington, including the Road Brothers Northwest Motorcycle Club, Solutions Motorcycle Club, Northwest Veterans Motorcycle Club, High-Side Riders and the Freedom Fellowship Motorcycle Club, department of justice officials said. Support club members conducted criminal activities in support of the Gypsy Joker club and served as a source of new members and revenue for the club, federal officials allege.

    Dencklau served as president of the club's Portland chapter from 2003 until his arrest.

    On July 1, 2015, Robert Huggins, a former member of the Gypsy Joker's Portland chapter, was found lying in a field in Clark County, Washington, department of justice officials said.

    Huggins' body was badly beaten and he appeared to have been tortured before his death.

    Huggins was previously stripped of his club membership for allegedly stealing from the club and, after breaking into Dencklau’s Woodburn residence, tying up Dencklau’s girlfriend and stealing multiple firearms, officials said.

    Dencklau and others kidnapped Huggins June 30, 2015 from a Portland residence and brought him to a rural property in Southwest Washington where they tortured and beat him for several hours.

    Huggins suffered a fractured skull; lacerations to his chest and torso; and removed nipples. A medical examiner ruled his death was caused by multiple blunt and sharp force injuries.

    Several members of the club, including Dencklau, Earl Fisher, 48, of Gresham, and Tiler Evan Pribbernow, 40, of Portland, were indicted in June 2018 on murder in aid of racketeering; kidnapping in aid of racketeering, resulting in death; kidnapping resulting in death; and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, resulting in death.

    That November, Dencklau; Fisher; Erickson; Kenneth Earl Hause, 64, of Aumsville; Ryan Anthony Negrinelli, 36, of Gresham, Oregon; and Joseph Duane Folkerts, 61, of Battleground, Washington, were charged by superseding indictment with racketeering conspiracy.

    In December 2021, the same jurors who convicted Dencklau and Erickson, dismissed a lone racketeering conspiracy charge against Hause, the club's national president and a longtime Aumsville resident, according to federal officials.

    After pleading guilty to a conspiracy charge, Pribbernow was also sentenced April 12 to more than 11 years in federal prison. Fisher, Negrinelli, and Folkerts, who all pleaded guilty to the same charge, are awaiting sentencing, officials said. They face a maximum sentence of life in federal prison.

    The case was investigated by the Portland Police Bureau and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon StatePolice, and the Oregon and Washington State Crime Labs, officials said.

    https://statesmanjournal.com/story/n...s/65349999007/

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