Off the Wire News
MCs in the News By Andrew Clevenger
Staff writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Huntington Pagan admitted Monday in federal court that he set up a plot to kill a Pagan in prison because members of the motorcycle club believed the inmate was providing information about the club's activities to authorities.
David A. Cremeans, 49, known as "Kicker" in the biker world, also admitted that he traveled to Portsmouth, Ohio, in November 2004 to help the Pagans shut down a smaller, affiliated club, the Road Disciples Motorcycle Club, armed and prepared to use force if necessary.
In exchange for Cremeans' guilty plea to racketeering charges, prosecutors agreed to dismiss 11 other counts against him, including retaliation against a witness and drug and gun charges.
Cremeans, the onetime treasure of the Charleston chapter of the Pagans, plotted with members of the Last Rebels Motorcycle Club to kill a member of the Pagans who was serving a sentence at the federal prison in Ashland, Ky., according to the stipulation of facts entered as part of Cremeans' plea deal.
"They wanted him to shut up, and wanted to get back at him for running his mouth to law enforcement officers," the stipulation states.
Cremeans reached out to Michael Stevens, a guard at the prison, the stipulation states. Cremeans knew Stevens' brother, Richard Stevens, who was a local chapter president of the Last Rebels, a Pagans support club.
Although the Pagans did not allow anyone with a job related to law enforcement to join the Pagans or any affiliated club, Michael Stevens thought he would be admitted to the Last Rebels if he arranged for the murder inside the prison, the stipulation states.
Last Rebels national president Thomas Geer, who like Cremeans and the Stevens brothers was one of 55 defendants named in a 44-count indictment unsealed in October, vouched for Michael Stevens, according to the stipulation.
Authorities secretly recorded a conversation between Cremeans, Michael Stevens and an unnamed Pagan about the plot, in which Stevens described his plan to hire a big inmate to kill the intended victim: "The large, cooperating inmate would stab himself and then, 'stomp [the victim's] gut out,' so it would look like self defense."
Cremeans planned to pay the inmate by putting a series of small deposits into the inmate's commissary account, because a large lump sum would attract attention, according to the stipulation.
"Michael Stevens said he would explain that plan to the cooperating inmate because 'you just stomped this guy's heart out of his throat,' so putting a lot of money in his account at one time would be suspicious," the stipulation states.
Authorities moved the intended victim to another facility before he was harmed.
Cremeans faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas E. Johnston on June 29.
Cremeans is the 18th defendant to strike a deal with prosecutors, but only the second to admit to racketeering charges. Pagans national vice president Floyd A. "Jesse" Moore, 64, of St. Albans, pleaded guilty to racketeering in December, conceding that the Pagans is a hierarchical gang engaged in organized crime.
Racketeering charges remain pending against Pagans national president, David K. "Bart" Barbeito, 49, of Myersville, Md. A grand jury upgraded charges against Richard Timothy Weaver, 52, of St. Albans, when it handed up a superseding indictment earlier this month.
Other defendants have admitted to helping stockpile explosives as part of an ongoing feud between the Pagans and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club, intimidating other motorcycle clubs, extortion and selling drugs.
Pending counts accuse gang members and associates of kidnapping, robbery and transporting the proceeds from illegal raffles of motorcycles across state lines.
One defendant died in custody, and another was added when the new indictment was unsealed. Thirty-seven defendants remain, and are scheduled to go to trial in May.
Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 304-348-1723.
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