Va. biker gang member sentenced to 5 years

OFF THE WIRE
LARRY O'DELL
Source: washingtonexaminer.com
A man who was instrumental in helping the Outlaws motorcycle gang establish a foothold in Virginia was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday.
Mark Steven Fiel pleaded for leniency from his wheelchair after his lawyer argued that lengthy sentence could mean the ailing 59-year-old, known by his biker cronies as "Snuff," might die in prison.
"I'm imploring the court not to give him the maximum, because it means he may not ever see the light of day," Fiel's attorney, John Flannery II, told U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson.
Flannery said Fiel has many health problems, including emphysema, diabetes, chronic pain from a work injury and, most recently, kidney stones that put him in the wheelchair.
Fiel also asked for a sentence at or below the low end of the guideline range of 51 to 63 months, telling Hudson he had begun to turn his life around because of the positive influence of his girlfriend before he was arrested last summer in a sweeping federal investigation of the Outlaws.
"I know I screwed up," Fiel said. "But if you can show enough mercy to make it just a few years, I promise you'll never see me again. Stick a fork in me, I'm finished."
Hudson, however, noted that Fiel spent 12 years in prison for crimes committed as part of another motorcycle gang, then joined the Outlaws shortly after his release and helped start the gang's chapter in northern Virginia.
"It's unfortunate you didn't have this change of life earlier in life," Hudson said.
He said Fiel joined the Outlaws "almost in defiance" of court orders not to affiliate with another violent motorcycle gang. "You went into this with your eyes wide open," Hudson said.
Fiel is among 27 biker gang members indicted in June on racketeering and other charges. More than half entered guilty pleas. Five others, including national Outlaws president Jack Rosga, were convicted and three acquitted in jury trials.
One of the men charged was killed in a gun battle with federal agents trying to arrest him in Maine.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/nation/2011/01/va-biker-gang-member-sentenced-5-years#ixzz1BRdW0WJs