OFF THE WIRE
MCs in the News
By Andrew Clevenger
Staff writer
Advertiser
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The son of the national vice president of the Pagans Motorcycle Club will remain in custody after a federal judge overruled a magistrate's decision to release him.
Elmer Luke "Tramp" Moore, 45, is accused of ordering the beating of a suspected informant in a New Jersey hotel room in January 2009. He also faces charges of being an armed bodyguard for his father, Floyd B. "Jesse" Moore and being an unlawful user of cocaine in possession of a gun.
On March 5, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary E. Stanley reversed her October ruling and ordered the younger Moore released to home confinement with electronic monitoring at his Buckhannon home.
His attorney, Jim Roncaglione, had asked the judge to revisit her decision after reviewing information turned over by prosecutors since a sweeping, 44-count racketeering indictment against 55 Pagans members and associates was unsealed in October.
One co-defendant -- unnamed for fear of reprisal -- has been debriefed several times since he entered a guilty plea, saying at first he couldn't remember the beating because he was drunk and high at the time, Roncaglione maintained. His later statements, where he provided details about the incident, were therefore suspect, he said.
Another cooperating witness who reported overhearing Moore tell his father about the beating was convicted of perjury for lying to a federal grand jury, he said.
In February, the government also disclosed that the purported victim of the beating, who was a confidential informant registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, had bought and used numerous drugs repeatedly without his handlers' permission.
Roncaglione wondered why the government would trust these "despicable people" over his client, an Army veteran with two honorable discharges and no criminal record.
During that hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Loew said that the government's case against Elmer Moore had gotten stronger.
One co-defendant, James R. "Bones" Claypool II, of French Creek, said Elmer Moore ordered him to hit the suspected informant when Claypool pleaded guilty in December, Loew said. He also reminded the judge of an audio recording in which Luke Moore purportedly threatens to assault a cocaine dealer for selling him "1.5 grams of [expletive]."
As president of the Pagans' Buckhannon chapter, Elmer Moore is in a position to order underlings to threaten or harm potential witnesses, Loew said.
"[Moore] doesn't necessarily perform violence on his own," he said. "He orders other people to do it for him."
When Stanley ordered Moore released, saying it would be "incredibly stupid" for him to harass potential witnesses, Loew immediately asked for a stay so that U.S. District Judge Thomas E. Johnston could review the decision.
On Tuesday, Johnston overruled Stanley's decision.
"Of particular concern is that the alleged conduct suggests that [Moore] poses an acute danger to persons he knows to be cooperating with government authorities," Johnston's order states. "[T]he government has proffered evidence demonstrating that [Moore] recently threatened the lives of a co-defendant and that defendant's 'old lady' if that co-defendant cooperates with the government in this case."
The potential for Moore to either commit acts of violence against potential witnesses or to instruct other Pagans to commit violence on his behalf is greatly diminished if he is in custody, Johnston wrote.
To date, 19 of the 55 defendants have entered plea deals with prosecutors. The remaining 36 defendants are scheduled to go to trial on May 4.
Johnston has not yet ruled on many issues raised during an all-day motions hearing on Monday, including efforts to dismiss numerous charges in the indictment. Several defense attorneys maintain that the bodyguard charge against Elmer Moore and others should be thrown out because it is not against the law to carry a gun at the behest of a superior in a social club, even if he is a convicted felon.
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.
