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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Four Bandidos indicted in beating, shooting

Written by Off the Wire
MCs in the News

GONZALES — An Ascension Parish grand jury returned a nine-count indictment Friday against four members of the Bandidos motorcycle gang in the beating and shooting of a one-time gang member and another man at a Port Vincent bar on Feb. 24, prosecutors said.

Three of the charges are for gang-related activity, according to a news release from the 23rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Indicted were Baton Rouge Chapter President Joe Louis “Bandido Joe” Flores, 35, and his brother, Jose Feliciano Flores, 31, both of Denham Springs; Chester “Bam” Hunnicutt, 38, Prairieville; and admitted Bandido’s sergeant-at-arms Derrick “Big D” Johnson, 35, of Walker.

All were indicted with one count each of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and attempted second degree murder in furtherance of criminal gang activity; and two counts each of conspiracy to commit second-degree battery, second-degree battery and second-degree battery in furtherance of criminal gang activity.

The grand jury presented the indictment Friday morning at the Ascension Parish Courthouse Annex in Gonzales with Judge Ralph Tureau presiding.

Joe Flores, allegedly shot Steven Hoff, 31, Denham Springs, at Fred’s on the River, according to case documents, after Flores and three other gang members assaulted Hoff during an argument at the bar.

Fred’s on the River is in Ascension Parish along the Amite River and next to Port Vincent.

Hoff had recently been kicked out the gang, which Louisiana State Police have said is known to frequent lower Livingston and Ascension parishes.

Arrest warrants are pending for all four on the new charges, with bonds to be set at a later date by Tureau. Joe Flores remains in Ascension Parish Jail along with Chester Hunnicutt.

Jose Flores is free on a $50,573 bond and Derrick Johnson bonded out of Ascension Parish Jail, but is being held in the East Baton Rouge Parish Jail on armed robbery charges.

The February shooting followed several of weeks of intra-gang turmoil and a November gang meeting in Greenwell Springs where members discussed the possibility of someone speaking to law enforcement, according to federal indictments and State Police arrest reports.

Federal authorities have confirmed that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives and State Police have been investigating the gang since January 2009.

That investigation led to the arrest of then-gang chapter President Johnny Dean Daigle on drug distribution charges on Feb. 5 and of another man, also in February, for lying to an ATF agent about his knowledge of the November meeting, federal indictments allege.

Joe Flores replaced Daigle as Baton Rouge chapter president when Daigle was arrested.

original article