Three more arrested in Hells Angels operation, Horry County police search for five others

OFF THE WIRE
The arrest of three men on Tuesday now leaves Horry County police looking for five other people wanted on charges in connection with an 18-month investigation called Operation Red Harvest, which centered on marijuana cultivation and distribution involving local chapters of the Hells Angels motorcycle organization.
On Tuesday, Joshua Thomas Burnette, 24, of Murrells Inlet; Glenn Mathew O’Brien, 30, of Myrtle Beach and Joseph Gigi Sagone, 50, of Melbourne, Fla., were booked into J. Reuben Long Detention Center on charges related to the operation, Horry County police Sgt. Robert Kegler said.
Police have arrested 31 people, including 15 in one day last week, as part of the operation that centered on the motorcycle group and people affiliated with it, Kegler said.
Last week, a circuit court judge set bonds for the group that ranged from $25,000 to $200,000 and totaled more than $2 million cumulatively, Kegler said.
The arrests were made after a grand jury handed down 226 sealed indictments on April 23 for the suspects, according to authorities. Everyone arrested was either a member of the biker organization or somehow affiliated with them, police said.
The recent arrests involved charges that stemmed from marijuana distribution to assault that involved Hells Angels members attacking men, who were either being kicked out of the organization or not considered a member and forcing them to remove signifying tattoos.
Burnette was charged with third-degree assault and battery by a mob, kidnapping, conspiracy to distribute marijuana, manufacturing marijuana and three counts of criminal conspiracy. He is being held at the detention center pending a bond hearing.
O’Brien was charged with third-degree assault and battery by a mob and criminal conspiracy. Bond was set at $20,000 on the assault charge, but had not been set on the conspiracy charge.
Sagone was charged with criminal conspiracy and bond was set at $40,000 and two counts of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and manufacturing marijuana. He did not have bond set on the marijuana charges.
Officers are continuing to investigate the operation and actively searching for the remaining suspects, Kegler said.
On April 30, as part of the initial roundup of suspects, police arrested Ellis Howard Schindler, 48, of Myrtle Beach, and said he is the president of the regional chapter for the Hells Angels. He is charged with eight counts of criminal conspiracy; two counts of accessory before the fact to a felony; two counts of third degree assault and battery by a mob; kidnapping; use of threat of physical violence by a criminal gxxg member; unlawful use of a telephone for obscene calls or threats; manufacturing marijuana; possession with intent to distribute marijuana and conspiracy to distribute marijuana.
The operation was led by Horry County police along with the Horry County Sheriff’s Office, 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office, Myrtle Beach police, Surfside Beach police and the State Law Enforcement Division.
Officers searched 10 locations in Horry County and two in Georgetown County on April 30 that ended the 18-month investigation that began in December 2010.
Some of Schindler’s charges stem from a 2010 incident where Hells Angels members allegedly kidnapped and assaulted another member by removing or covering his Hells Angels tattoo as they wanted him out of the group. Another similar incident occurred in 2011 with a different victim, who Hells Angels members did not consider an official member to have the tattoo.
Some of the 26 individuals charged in connection with the marijuana bust were also charged in connection with those assaults and another assault that occurred in April 2011 where Myrtle Beach Police Officer Michael Marsh was assaulted by a Hells Angels motorcycle club member while he was attending a picnic and cookout at a friend’s house. Joshua Joseph Johnson, 41, of Little River, was arrested and charged with simple assault at the time. Marsh was not seriously injured, according to police.
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/05/09/2818562/three-more-arrested-in-hells-angels.html