OOF THE WIRE
Woman with ties to Pagans sentenced to day in jail for perjury
By Andrew Clevenger
The Charleston Gazette
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The former live-in girlfriend of Pagans national vice president Floyd "Jesse" Moore was sentenced Thursday in federal court to one day in jail for perjury.
Rebecca Martin, 55, pleaded guilty to the charge in a closed hearing in July 2009. She admitted that she had lied to a grand jury about what she knew about a 2004 Big Chimney bank robbery committed by two Pagans, Paul Edward "Pauley" Hysell, and Vincent H. "Hot Rod" Morris.
Martin was Morris' girlfriend at the time of the robbery. Investigators caught Morris first, and he provided them information that helped them track down Hysell, which drew the ire of the motorcycle club.
Defense attorney David Schles said that Martin provided an alibi for Morris to the grand jury under duress. Morris had joked that everyone had better keep their mouths shut, but she knew firsthand how Pagans treated people who cooperated with law enforcement, he said.
"She made a serious mistake," Schles said. But she realized her mistake and came forward and told the truth in June 2004, he said, before Morris and Hysell entered their own guilty pleas in the bank robbery.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Loew said that Martin had provided substantial assistance in the racketeering indictment against 55 members and associates of the Pagans, which was unsealed in October 2009.
Federal sentencing guidelines had recommended a prison sentence between 27 and 33 months for Martin, but U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. imposed the one-day sentence, with credit for a day she had served following her arrest, both because she had committed the crime under duress and because she helped the government.
Copenhaver also ordered her to spend three years on supervised release and fined her $5,000.
