agingrebel.com
The Iron Order Motorcycle Club, which
has branded itself as a “law abiding motorcycle club” has been using
club funds to defend a convicted child molester in a civil lawsuit for
the last two years.
Timothy “Munch” Martin, sergeant at arms
for the Reading, Pennsylvania “Kameraden Chapter” of the IOMC is a
defendant in a lawsuit filed by the estate of Tonya Marie Focht. Martin
is represented by John C. Whitfield of Madisonville, Kentucky. Whifield
is the Director of Legal Affairs for the Iron Order.
Focht
Focht died on June 19, 2015 after she
and her fiancé (Mark Groff) were harassed and attacked by Iron Order
members and associates at a restaurant named the Bar-B-Q Pit in Sinking
Springs near Reading. According to an amended complaint filed Monday in
Philadelphia, after Focht “and her fiancé, Mark Groff, entered the
subject drinking establishment, lOMC members began to verbally accost
Ms. Focht and Mr. Groff. At some later point, a member of the lOMC threw
a pitcher of some type of substance water, or melted ice) onto Ms.
Focht.”
“As Ms. Focht and Mr. Groff attempted to
leave the establishment, they were again accosted, verbally and
physically, by members of the lOMC, which had taken steps to call in
‘reinforcements’ in the form of other lOMC members. Mr. Groff was
physically engaged by several IOMC members, with Ms. Focht nearby.
Approximately three lOMC members were on top of Mr. Groff and held him
on the ground while pummeling him. One of those lOMC members was
Defendant Martin. Ms. Focht attempted to pull one IOMC member off of Mr.
Groff so that she and her fiancé could leave…. As Ms. Focht attempted
to assist her fiancé, a member of the lOMC, Defendant Martin, punched
Ms. Focht in the face and knocked her backwards into the side of a
moving
motor vehicle.”
motor vehicle.”
Focht’s head was crushed and she died. She was a student at Alvernia University in Reading. She is survived by two orphans.
Small Charges
Iron Order member Wayne “Mo” Ritchie,
Martin and Groff were all charged with disorderly conduct. No other
charges were filed. Focht’s estate filed suit in July 2015. The estate
is now represented by two Philadelphia lawyers, Timothy G. Daly and
Slade H. McLaughlin.
Pretrial discovery in the case has been
very extensive and has included multiple, video recorded depositions.
Michael “Cgar” Crouse, an Army lieutenant colonel and the current Iron
Order vice-president who was national sergeant at arms when Focht was
killed, testified on behalf of the Iron Order as the “person most
knowledgeable” to speak for the club on November 10 of last year. Club
president Patrick “Brit” Ward was present for the deposition but did not
testify. The club was represented at that and all other proceedings by
Whitfield.
The Focht complaint is one of two
lawsuits filed against the Iron Order. The other has been filed in
Denver by Laura Ramirez Mendoza whose husband, Victor Mendoza, was shot
and killed at the Colorado Motorcycle Expo in January 2016 by Iron Order
member Derrick Duran.
Sex Offender
The amended suit filed this week states
“Timothy Martin was a convicted sex offender at all times material
hereto, having served time in a detention center for the statutory rape
of an under-aged minor. Timothy Martin’s sex conviction precluded his
membership in the Iron Order Motorcycle Club by virtue of the express
dictates of the Club’s Bylaws. Timothy Martin fraudulently
misrepresented to the IOMC that he had no prior sex crime convictions so
that he could gain membership into this Motorcycle Club. Alternatively,
Defendant Martin revealed his prior sex crime to the IOMC, which
accepted him as a member into the Club, in direct contravention of its
Bylaws prohibiting members with sex crimes in their background
histories.”
This morning, a very informed source
with knowledge of both the Focht case and the Iron Order’s response to
it confirmed that Ward, Crouse and Whitfield have known Martin is a
convicted sex offender while the club has continued to support him.
“The leaders of the Iron Order knew
about this charge since November 2016,” the source said. “The bylaws of
the Iron Order are very clear on the matter. No man guilty of any sexual
crime is allowed in the club. The appropriate action by the leaders of
the Iron Order would have been to immediately throw Tim Martin out of
the club and stop paying for his defense. They chose not to do that and
chose not to inform their membership of anything regarding either of the
lawsuits.”