Kouts biker trial opens next week

Off the Wire
MCs in the News

BY CHRISTIN NANCE LAZERUS, (219) 648-3086
The government laid out its case against the last member of a motorcycle gang accused of making and dealing methamphetamine in advance of his trial which starts Monday.

Kouts resident Timothy "Beefy" Bartruff is the last remaining defendant of the multistate motorcycle gang that cooked up the drugs at two Kouts residences provided by him, then sold the drugs in Indiana, Missouri and Colorado between 2002 and 2008.

All other defendants who faced serious charges have pleaded guilty, and several of them will testify against Bartruff at his trial.

Court documents paint Bartruff as the leader of the drug ring which involved 36 people. Some belonged to the white supremacist Invaders Motorcycle Club, which has Nazi symbols on its Web site.

Bartruff filed a court motion on Tuesday requesting that the government not be allowed to mention his membership in the Invaders Motorcycle Club or any white supremacist leanings because it has no bearing on the drug trafficking conspiracy and it may prejudice the jury against him.

Court documents accuse Bartruff of providing two Kouts residences to the group as a place to manufacture the drugs. Prosecutors say when Bartruff came back to Northwest Indiana and other locations he would stop in to the to receive meth for his personal use. He also allegedly helped cook the drugs on at least one occasion.

The government wiretapped the phone of one of the defendants who plead guilty -- Richard Kasper -- for two months, prior to conducting warrants at the residences and other places connected to the group in June 2008.

Kasper, Stacy Judd, Kathleen Conley and possibly others are scheduled to testify at Bartruff's trial.

The government's evidence against Bartruff includes testimony from law enforcement officers, evidence and drugs seized during a search at the Kouts homes.

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