OFF THE WIRE
By Andrew Clevenger
The Charleston Gazette
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Cocaine use was common at the St. Albans clubhouse of the Pagans Motorcycle Club, but it was often hidden because the club's national vice president didn't approve of drug use, several Pagans said Wednesday.
Their testimony came during the trial of Eric "Fritz" Wolfe, 43, of St. Albans, who is charged with being an illegal drug user in possession of a gun.
Wolfe is the last of 55 defendants named in a sweeping, 44-count racketeering indictment against members and associates of the Pagans Motorcycle Club unsealed in October to have charges pending against him.
In the last few weeks, two other defendants have gone to trial, resulting in one conviction and one acquittal. All of the other defendants have either entered plea deals, many to vastly reduced charges, or entered into agreements where their charges will be dismissed if they stay out of trouble for a year.
Wolfe was a member of the Charleston chapter of the Pagans, whose territory included West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Kentucky, Virginia, New York and Florida.
On Wednesday, several other members, who have all entered into their own plea deals with federal prosecutors, said they saw Wolfe use cocaine multiple times at the Pagans' clubhouse in St. Albans during the first half of 2009.
Floyd B. "Jesse" Moore, 65, of St. Albans, testified that he talked to Wolfe several times about his drug use. As the national vice president, Moore was superior to Wolfe in the club's hierarchy.
"You're in the bag too much, you've borrowed money from people," Moore said he told Wolfe. As someone who did shift work with lots of overtime, Wolfe was often excused from attending Pagans events because he was working, Moore said.
But all those hours should have meant that Wolfe earned plenty of money, and should not have needed to borrow any money, which Moore attributed to his drug use.
Moore said that his subordinates in the club knew that he didn't approve of drug use, so they tried to hide it from him, snorting the drug in the clubhouse's bathroom and basement. Sometimes, they went across the street to do drugs in their parked cars, he said.
"I mean, it's not for the air conditioning," he said of small groups visiting their cars together. "There's air conditioning in the clubhouse."
Donnie Ray "Hoss" Workman, 36, of Red House, said that he bought cocaine and brought it to church, as the Pagans called their weekly meeting at the clubhouse on Saturday nights, on an average of two weekends a month.
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Wolfe wasn't there every weekend, but if he was there and someone had cocaine, he would use some, Workman said.
"If we were doing it, and he was there, he was participating," Workman said. "If Fritz was there and he wanted a line, I would give it to him."
Last month, Workman pleaded guilty to being an illegal drug user in possession of a gun, the same charge Wolfe faces. The crime carries up to a 10-year prison sentence.
While his federal charges were pending, Workman was twice arrested and charged with DUI. In the second incident, on June 24, police said Workman struck Jennifer Rollins, a mother of two, as he was driving home drunk from a bar, in an apparent violation of the conditions of his bond.
State charges against Workman are still pending.
William Dan "Danimal" Copen, 50, of Charleston, also said he used cocaine with Wolfe at the clubhouse. He described Wolfe as an opportunistic drug user.
"If it was there, he'd use it," he said.
When Wolfe was arrested in October 2009, authorities found a pawn ticket for a gun that Wolfe and his wife had pawned the previous May. This is evidence that Wolfe possessed a gun during a period when he was an illegal user of cocaine, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steve Loew and Blaire Malkin maintained.
During previous hearings, defense attorney Tim Carrico has assailed the government's case, suggesting that investigators had no reason to link Wolfe's alleged drug use with a pawn ticket.
Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Thomas E. Johnston granted a defense motion to bar any mention of the Pagans Motorcycle Club during Wolfe's trial. Instead, witnesses have referred to a "club" they belonged to, but not to the Pagans or other biker clubs.
Wolfe's trial continues on Thursday. Its conclusion will mark the close of the prosecution phase of the Pagans case, although most of the defendants have not yet been sentenced.
Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.
