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Gypsy Jokers MC In Portland. 6 Members Testifying Against 3.
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Gregory Carr
Nov 11, 2021, 5:45:41 AM11/11/21
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Gypsy Jokers Motorcycle Club clubhouse now for sale
REPORTER BONNIE SILKMANPOSTED OCT 26, 2017
A highly exclusive clubhouse belonging to the Gypsy Jokers Motorcycle Club is now for sale in northeast Portland.
Thursday’s rare open house gave curious locals a peek inside the private headquarters.
A lot of intrigue and mystery surrounds the clubhouse. It has been on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for decades, but few people have actually stepped inside.
FOX 12 crews were turned away by the club’s security, but others eager to get a glimpse got a chance to see what’s behind the dark closed doors.
At first glance, it looks like an ordinary brick building. But take a closer look, and you’ll see a few curious details.
A message is stenciled on the front door of the Gypsy Jokers clubhouse, warning that all trespassers, including law enforcement, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
In May of 2016, the Gypsy Joker clubhouse was raided by police, as a murder investigation was unfolding. Police and prosecutors believe members of the gang kidnapped, tortured and killed former high-ranking club member, Robert Huggins, in the summer of 2015. Still today, the accused killers and leaders of the club, are behind bars.
“I purposefully, you know, stayed on their good side for good reasons,” said Randy Faber.
Faber owns the Local Lounge. His bar is right across the street from the club.
“When we acquired the bar in 2010, we put up the gay pride flags right away. Culturally, we shouldn’t get along very well, but I’ve never had any issues with them,” said Faber.
But for eight years, Faber said he’s wondered what goes on behind the closed doors across the street.
“It’s like walking into a 1970s drug den,” said Faber.
New photos from the online property listing give the very first look inside the gang’s reclusive headquarters.
To the community’s surprise, the clubhouse is now up for sale.
“The vibe is still there, you can tell some serious parties happened over the years,” said Faber.
Never-before-seen keepsakes and photos can be spotted in the photos and decades of history are proudly displayed on the walls.
“There’s a bar, dance floor, stripper pole, booze… it was quite nice actually,” said Faber.
Many curious locals got a tour Thursday, but they said it was not your average open house.
“They warned us that we’re on camera and that we’re not allowed to film or photograph anything,” said Faber.
Others eager to get a glimpse were a little too nervous to go on camera.
“There was actually someone manning the six camera feeds, like standing there watching it the whole time we were walking around,” said one potential buyer who visited the property.
According to the listing online, the club headquarters and the home that’s attached to the back of the building are listed at a total of $900,000. It’s still an active clubhouse for the Gypsy Jokers Motorcycle Club.
All final offers are due by Wednesday.
Copyright 2017 KPTV-KPDX Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
https://www.kptv.com/news/gypsy-jokers-motorcycle-club-clubhouse-now-for-sale/article_81354943-3fb1-53cb-91be-b85c10c46419.html
Around 4 years later the trial of the The national president, Portland's chapter president and a member of the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club are all accused of conspiracy to commit racketeering still hasn't taken place. Allegedly they killed after torturing a Gypsy Joker who had ripped off the national presidents house. If true what did the guy expect would happen? The trail was declared a mistrial when the presiding Judge caught Wuhan. Oregon Live website has done a lot of reporting this but you have to pay for it.
https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2017/10/18/19399771/as-gypsy-jokers-sit-in-jail-on-murder-charges-the-motorcycle-gangs-clubhouse-is-up-for-sale-check-out-whats-inside
3 Gypsy Jokers indicted in 2015 kidnap-murder
CRIME
by: KOIN 6 News Staff
Posted: Jul 13, 2018 / 03:50 PM PDT / Updated: Jul 13, 2018 / 05:47 PM PDT
robert huggins 2012 combo_189126
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Three people connected with the Gypsy Jokers Outlaw Motorcycle Club were indicted for the conspiracy kidnap and murder of Robert Huggins, whose body was dumped in a Clark County field in 2015.
Mark Leroy Dencklau of Woodburn, Earl Deverle Fisher of Gresham and Tiler Evan Pribbernow of Portland are accused of kidnapping and murdering Huggins to “advance their positions” in the gang, the US Attorney’s Office said in a release.
The three were indicted June 28, but the indictment was unsealed Friday.
“This indictment is an important step toward dismantling this violent gang, and should send a clear message that the Department of Justice will bring to justice those who commit such heinous criminal crimes on our streets,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement.
The Gypsy Jokers in Oregon
‘Bagger Bobby’
Prosecutors said Huggins was killed around June 30, 2015. Huggins lived in Southeast Portland and was a former member of the Gypsy Jokers.
The murder of Robert Lee Huggins was a brutal payback. He was kidnapped, his tortured body then dumped like trash in rural Clark County, according to police and prosecutors.
Huggins — often times called “Bagger Bobby” — was well known within the Gypsy Joker motorcycle gang, senior deputy district attorney Glen Banfield said in 2016.
During a bail hearing at that time, lead detective James Lawrence said:
Huggins was the former treasurer of the local chapter for the Gypsy Joker motorcycle gang and was also known as the “enforcer” or the Sergeant at Arms.
He was kicked out of the gang for breaking 2 rules — shooting heroin and stealing. He was reportedly stealing from the gang to feed his drug use. (Greg; If a club has a no heroin or no needle rule it has to be enforced. The H.A.M.C. cleared out the junkies in the early 80's the junkies loyalty is to the needle not the club or patch. If Huggins aka "Bagger Bobby" as in bag of smack no doubt was addicted to heroin that explains why he would rip off the Portland house of the club pres. to feed the monkey on his back. Bad move hype.)
Around June 30, 2015, Huggins was at a known drug house near NE 119th and NE Holladay Street in Portland. He was kidnapped and driven across the state line into Washington. He was tortured to death.
His body was driven to a rural field in Ridgefield, Washington and dumped. Huggins’ body was found with nails shot through his boots, an X carved on his body and his teeth knocked out.
Detectives were able to piece the case together using cell phone records, which showed the suspects traveling north and into the area where Huggins’ was found. ( Greg: For a serious investigation law enforcement can trace an on cell phone that is one capable of receiving or sending a call or text to within 4 blocks of any cell phone tower. How often do you see cell phone towers around? https://www.techwalla.com/articles/can-you-use-an-old-cell-phone-to-make-a-911-call for more info.)
Huggins’ body was found by loggers. Detectives were able to quickly identify him after looking at his tattoos. They didn’t release his name publicly for several weeks because of the ongoing investigation.
The 2018 indictment
The indictment said the 3 men “engaged in violent actions” that led to Huggins death in a bid to increase “their positions in the GJOMC criminal enterprise,” the US Attorney’s Office said.
Denklau is 58. Fisher is 48 and Pribbernow is 37. They are each charged with:
Murder in the aid of racketeering
Kidnapping in the aid of racketeering resulting in death
Kidnapping resulting in death
Conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death
Over time, the case was investigated by the Portland Police Bureau, the ATF, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Oregon State Police and the state crime labs of both Oregon and Washington.
Copyright 2021 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
https://www.koin.com/news/crime/3-gypsy-jokers-indicted-in-2015-kidnap-murder/
ce raid Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Clubhouse, nearby home in 2015 homicide case
by Jackie LabrecqueFriday, May 6th 2016
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The search warrants were part of the ongoing investigation into the 2015 homicide of 56-year-old Robert Lee Huggins, whose body was found on July 1, 2015, in Clark County, Washington.
Booking photos for Mark Dencklau, Earl Fisher Jr., and Tiler Pribbernow
Police serve search warrant at Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club clubhouse.jpg
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The search warrants were part of the ongoing investigation into the 2015 homicide of 56-year-old Robert Lee Huggins, whose body was found on July 1, 2015, in Clark County, Washington.
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PORTLAND, Ore. — PORTLAND, Ore. -- Portland Police detectives raided the Gypsy Jokers Motorcycle Club in Northeast Portland, as well as a home behind it early Friday morning, after executing a search warrant on both properties. They say it is in connection to the murder of a former member of the club, whose body was found in Clark County.
Detectives spent hours both inside the club and the home, while outside neighbors smiled.
"It's been coming," said neighbor, Connie Johnson. "I mean we've complained about it. The noise, the blowing up half a stick of dynamites out here, getting drunk and stuff like that."
"I'm kinda like happy, the neighborhood ain't got to hear the motorcycles roaring up in the middle of the night, they have wild and crazy parties," said another neighbor who asked to remain anonymous.
The warrant for police to collect evidence is in connection to the murder of 56-year-old Robert Lee Huggins, a former member. State Police SWAT and the Washington County Sheriff's Office helped Portland Police homicide detectives served the warrant early Friday morning.
"Not surprising. I mean when you have a club like that and you're doing things against the law, murder play a part in that," Johnson said.
Loggers found the body of Robert Lee Huggins, 56, last summer in Ridgefield, Washington - about 25 miles north of Portland. He died from multiple blunt and sharp-force injuries.
This week, a grand jury indicted six people in connection to his murder.
"Some of the activities he was involved in ran afoul of his friends," said Detective Jim Lawrence, with Portland Police. "They sought out some retribution as a result."
Mark Dencklau, 56, and Tiler Pribbernow, 34, were arraigned Friday morning. Both pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges, including murder and kidnapping. Earl Fisher, 46, was in court, but did not enter a plea on the same charges.
Kendra Castle blocked her face in the hall of the courthouse, she pleaded not guilty to a charge of hindering prosecution in the case. Ronald Thompson's accused of hindering prosecution, but did not enter a plea.
Malachi Watkins, 32, who is in jail in Washington, is also charged with murder.
Back on North Garfield Avenue, neighbors say perhaps the police presence means they'll see and hear a lot less on their street.
"It's a nuisance to see all these bike gangs come through here, parking the cars in our lot, no respect," Johnson said.
Attorneys representing two of the clients pushed the judge for access to evidence, and said they couldn't speak with the press because they just to have enough information about the case. the five are next due in court the morning of June 20th.
https://katu.com/news/local/police-serve-search-warrants-at-gypsy-joker-motocycle-clubhouse-in-2015-homicide-case
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2016/07/judge_wont_let_gypsy_joker_def.html goes further into the nitty gritty. The GJ had run off Higgins after a brutal beating and taking his Harley and truck for stealing from the club ( he had been the treasurer ) apparently he stole thousands of dollars to feed his drug addiction. When he ripped off the Club Pres. house he tied up his woman to a chair not like they could go the police.
Battle Ground man pleads guilty in motorcycle club killing
By Jessica Prokop, Columbian Assistant Metro Editor
Published: May 18, 2020, 5:04pm
body of a man was dumped in a field off 179st Street in Ridgefield.
Detectives Joe Swenson, left, and Scott Gilberti investigae at the scene of a homocide in Ridgefield Wednesday July 1, 2015. The body of a man was dumped in a field off 179st Street in Ridgefield. (Natalie Behring/The Columbian)
A Battle Ground man and former member of the Gypsy Joker Outlaw Motorcycle Club has pleaded guilty in connection with a 2015 kidnapping and killing of an ousted club member, according to The Oregonian.
Joseph Duane Folkerts, 62, pleaded guilty to conspiring to engage in racketeering in U.S. District Court of Oregon.
His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 30; his recommended sentencing range is about 24 to 30 years.
Folkerts is the fourth defendant to plead guilty in the case. Racketeering, murder and kidnapping charges are pending against three others, who are scheduled for trial Sept. 29, The Oregonian reported last week.
The case stems from the slaying of Robert Lee Huggins, whose body was found July 1, 2015, dumped in a field north of Vancouver.
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2019/09/ex-gypsy-joker-motorcycle-club-member-accused-of-racketeering-fears-retaliation-in-custody-testimony-reveals.html Folkerts went into protective custody and fears for his life. Tiler Evan Pribbernow is now the star witness for the prosecution and will only face racketeering charges.
The 56-year-old Portland man, a former enforcer and treasurer for the Gypsy Jokers known as “Bagger Bobby,” was banned from the group in September 2014 after he stole money to buy heroin, a detective with the Portland Police Bureau said in 2016. Huggins was then “green lit” by the group, meaning members were allowed to “take him out” any time they saw him, the detective said.
Portland’s Gypsy Joker President Mark Leroy Dencklau ordered the attack on Huggins after he robbed Dencklau’s Woodburn, Ore., home and tied up his girlfriend earlier that month. Huggins was kidnapped on June 30, 2015, and was tortured and killed in Woodland before his body was dumped, according to authorities.
Folkerts wasn’t involved in Huggins’ initial abduction, prosecutors said, but he witnessed Huggins’ beating, helped restrain him during the assault and drove his body to be dumped, according to The Oregonian.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Mygrant said Folkerts , at the time of Huggins’ death, was a member of Road Brothers, a different motorcycle club. He was given a patch to join the Gypsy Jokers after the killing.
Folkerts’ lawyer said his client was forced to join the Gypsy Jokers after Huggins’ beating. Folkerts was “beaten out” of the club sometime in 2016, The Oregonian reported.
https://www.columbian.com/news/2020/may/18/battle-ground-man-pleads-guilty-in-motorcycle-club-killing/
Tiler Evan Pribbernow is now a prosecution witness in exchange for a plea to racketeering charges instead of murder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_Joker_Motorcycle_Club
Crime
Gypsy Joker racketeering trial pits cooperating motorcycle club members against leaders
Updated: Oct. 19, 2021, 11:20 a.m. | Published: Oct. 18, 2021, 8:06 p.m.
Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club trial
The Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club's national president, Portland's chapter president and a club member are all accused of conspiracy to commit racketeering.
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By Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Led by the national president of the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Gang known as “The Wiz” and the gang’s Portland chapter president, members kidnapped and tortured an ex-member to death and then threatened witnesses to enforce an unwritten rule that no one talks to police, a federal prosecutor told jurors Monday.
But six men violated the club’s cardinal rule and cooperated with police.
Jurors are expected to hear from them over the next month and a half in the federal trial in Portland of Kenneth Earl Hause, 64, who held the title of the club’s national president for 20 years; Mark Dencklau, 59, the local chapter leader, and Chad Leroy Erickson, 51, another member.
All three are accused of conspiracy to commit racketeering. Dencklau and Erickson face separate charges of kidnapping and murder in aid of racketeering in connection with the violent death of an ex-member.
The six Gypsy Jokers expected to testify against them have already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Each of the six will take the witness stand and say the club is an “outlaw” bikers clan, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah Bolstad said during opening statements.
They also will say they beat and killed Robert “Bagger” Huggins, 56, and dumped his body in Clark County in 2015 at the direction of Dencklau, she said.
Huggins, a struggling heroin addict, had tied up Dencklau’s girlfriend and stolen thousands of dollars from Dencklau’s Woodburn home, the prosecutor said.
They’ll also describe how they committed other crimes to boost their status in the organization, retaliated “quickly and violently” when anyone disrespected them and created a culture of fear so others wouldn’t mess with them, Bolstad told jurors.
“The United States is not asking you to like these witnesses, but the evidence will show the Gypsy Jokers likes them,” Bolstad said. “They’ll tell you how the club works and crimes committed by them.”
She presented the national president’s heavy black leather Gypsy Joker motorcycle jacket as evidence and described how club members wear a diamond-shaped patch with a 1% in it.
“The old saying is that 99% of the motorcycling world is law-abiding,” she said. “This group embraces being part of the 1% who do not follow society’s rules and they wear a patch that says as much.”
In one beating that occurred in Kennewick, Washington, Hause is accused of knocking out the teeth of a man who had been late to a motorcycle run and then having another club member tattoo a large “X” over a Gypsy Joker tattoo on the man’s back, she said.
Lawyers for the three men on trial cautioned jurors to consider the motives of the government’s main witnesses, arguing that by cooperating with prosecutors they’re hoping to draw more lenient sentences.
Other federal witnesses expected to testify received substantial payments from the government to help them relocate or pay rent, the defense attorneys noted and testimony confirmed.
Co-defendant and lead government witness Tiler Evan Pribbernow told investigators “exactly what the government wanted to hear” and other co-defendants fell in line, said attorney Erik E. Eklund, one of Dencklau’s defense lawyers.
Pribbernow delivered the fatal blows to Huggins with baseball bat strikes to his head, according to court records.
Loggers found Huggins’ battered body in a field on July 1, 2015. He had a fractured skull, a broken rib, a broken leg, a removed nipple, nails driven through his boots, slash wounds to his back and face and many blows to his face, prosecutors said.
Huggins had been “beaten out” of the club a year earlier after other members found he had cleaned out the club’s cash draw to feed his heroin habit, Bolstad said.
The cooperating witnesses “curried favor with the government to get the best possible sentences for themselves,” said defense lawyer Thomas K. Coan, representing Erickson.
Defense lawyers said their clients are motorcycle aficionados who sought camaraderie but didn’t fit into the more establishment American Motorcycle Association.
“They like bikes loud and fast,” Eklund said. “And it may not be surprising to know that some of these people use methamphetamine and some of them sell methamphetamine on their own time. And some of these steal motorcycles on their own time.”
Eklund argued that no physical evidence ties Dencklau to Huggins’ murder, so the government had to rely on his co-defendants to implicate him.
“They don’t have anything on Dencklau except for a motive,” he said.
Erickson was present but didn’t participate in the beating or killing of Huggins, said his lawyer, Coan.
Erickson wasn’t aware Huggins had been kidnapped from Portland and was trying to find Huggins in Longview, Washington, himself because he knew the chapter president was looking for Huggins, Coan said.
Once he met other club members at a rural Washington location where Huggins was taken and tortured, Erickson admittedly didn’t intervene or tell the others to stop, but was “frozen or paralyzed by his loyalties to the club or his fear,” Coan said.
The brutal beating and torture of Huggins “was worse than anything he had seen in Iraq,” Coan said of his client.
Police mistakenly thought Erickson was an “enforcer” or “sergeant in arms” for the club, when he was simply a sergeant in the U.S. Army, Coan said.
Erickson, who was born and raised in Portland, didn’t join the Gypsy Jokers to commit crimes, but saw it as a substitute of sorts for his military experience, offering a sense of camaraderie and loyalty, his lawyer said. Erickson was never an officer in the club but a member who held menial-type roles, Coan said.
The defense lawyer also accused the government of improperly coaching witnesses. Coan said investigators didn’t record the final interviews of the cooperating co-defendants and asked one defendant to look at statements made by other cooperating witnesses to try to refresh his memory.
“Guess what? The next day he remembers something,” said Coan, who didn’t identify which witness that involved.
Hause faces a single count of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy.
He’s a father and grandfather who ran a motorcycle shop in Coos Bay for 20 years after his U.S. Navy service, said his lawyer, Todd E. Bofferding.
The 1% on the Gypsy Jokers’ patch poked fun at the more straight-laced American Motorcycle Association, Bofferding said.
“Back in the ‘50s, the American Motorcycle Association was basically kind of like AARP” – if you had a motorcycle, you could sign up, he said.
“Well, not everybody wants to be a member of something like that,” Bofferding said. “And the AMA stated that 99% of all motorcycle riders are part of our club.”
He argued that the government’s allegations of racketeering are a serious overstep and that any problems between the men were individual disputes not representative of the club.
“These men have strong personalities,” Bofferding said. “When strong personalities clash, oftentimes there’s fights, fights between independent men. It’s the affairs of individual men, not the club. It’s overreaching. It’s overcharging.”
Caleb Enk, an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was the first witness called by the prosecution.
He confirmed that his agency paid about $125,000, divided between five witnesses, including about $75,000 to Dencklau’s ex-girlfriend who was moved out of state, and $15,000 to Pribbernow’s family, also moved out of state for safety.
Some of the money covered the moves, their stay in long-term motels or first-and-last months of rent, meals and utilities for those put up in apartments, Enk said.
The trial is expected to last six weeks. Prosecutors plan to call 80 witnesses and present about 200 pieces of evidence, including Gypsy Joker meeting minutes, recorded jail calls of some co-defendants and GPS tracking of the defendants’ cell phones to pinpoint their locations during various alleged crimes.
U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut presided over the opening of the trial after Judge Michael W. Mosman tested positive for COVID-19 two days after jury selection. Mosman is expected to return as trial judge in one to two weeks, Immergut told lawyers and the jurors.
-- Maxine Bernstein
Email mbern...@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212
Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2021/10/gypsy-jokers-racketeering-trial-pits-cooperating-motorcycle-club-members-against-leaders.html So that is 6 Gypsy Jokers testifying against 3 others. Caleb Enk, an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was the first witness called by the prosecution.
He confirmed that his agency paid about $125,000, divided between five witnesses, including about $75,000 to Dencklau’s ex-girlfriend who was moved out of state, and $15,000 to Pribbernow’s family, also moved out of state for safety.
REPORTER BONNIE SILKMANPOSTED OCT 26, 2017
A highly exclusive clubhouse belonging to the Gypsy Jokers Motorcycle Club is now for sale in northeast Portland.
Thursday’s rare open house gave curious locals a peek inside the private headquarters.
A lot of intrigue and mystery surrounds the clubhouse. It has been on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for decades, but few people have actually stepped inside.
FOX 12 crews were turned away by the club’s security, but others eager to get a glimpse got a chance to see what’s behind the dark closed doors.
At first glance, it looks like an ordinary brick building. But take a closer look, and you’ll see a few curious details.
A message is stenciled on the front door of the Gypsy Jokers clubhouse, warning that all trespassers, including law enforcement, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
In May of 2016, the Gypsy Joker clubhouse was raided by police, as a murder investigation was unfolding. Police and prosecutors believe members of the gang kidnapped, tortured and killed former high-ranking club member, Robert Huggins, in the summer of 2015. Still today, the accused killers and leaders of the club, are behind bars.
“I purposefully, you know, stayed on their good side for good reasons,” said Randy Faber.
Faber owns the Local Lounge. His bar is right across the street from the club.
“When we acquired the bar in 2010, we put up the gay pride flags right away. Culturally, we shouldn’t get along very well, but I’ve never had any issues with them,” said Faber.
But for eight years, Faber said he’s wondered what goes on behind the closed doors across the street.
“It’s like walking into a 1970s drug den,” said Faber.
New photos from the online property listing give the very first look inside the gang’s reclusive headquarters.
To the community’s surprise, the clubhouse is now up for sale.
“The vibe is still there, you can tell some serious parties happened over the years,” said Faber.
Never-before-seen keepsakes and photos can be spotted in the photos and decades of history are proudly displayed on the walls.
“There’s a bar, dance floor, stripper pole, booze… it was quite nice actually,” said Faber.
Many curious locals got a tour Thursday, but they said it was not your average open house.
“They warned us that we’re on camera and that we’re not allowed to film or photograph anything,” said Faber.
Others eager to get a glimpse were a little too nervous to go on camera.
“There was actually someone manning the six camera feeds, like standing there watching it the whole time we were walking around,” said one potential buyer who visited the property.
According to the listing online, the club headquarters and the home that’s attached to the back of the building are listed at a total of $900,000. It’s still an active clubhouse for the Gypsy Jokers Motorcycle Club.
All final offers are due by Wednesday.
Copyright 2017 KPTV-KPDX Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
https://www.kptv.com/news/gypsy-jokers-motorcycle-club-clubhouse-now-for-sale/article_81354943-3fb1-53cb-91be-b85c10c46419.html
Around 4 years later the trial of the The national president, Portland's chapter president and a member of the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club are all accused of conspiracy to commit racketeering still hasn't taken place. Allegedly they killed after torturing a Gypsy Joker who had ripped off the national presidents house. If true what did the guy expect would happen? The trail was declared a mistrial when the presiding Judge caught Wuhan. Oregon Live website has done a lot of reporting this but you have to pay for it.
https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2017/10/18/19399771/as-gypsy-jokers-sit-in-jail-on-murder-charges-the-motorcycle-gangs-clubhouse-is-up-for-sale-check-out-whats-inside
3 Gypsy Jokers indicted in 2015 kidnap-murder
CRIME
by: KOIN 6 News Staff
Posted: Jul 13, 2018 / 03:50 PM PDT / Updated: Jul 13, 2018 / 05:47 PM PDT
robert huggins 2012 combo_189126
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Three people connected with the Gypsy Jokers Outlaw Motorcycle Club were indicted for the conspiracy kidnap and murder of Robert Huggins, whose body was dumped in a Clark County field in 2015.
Mark Leroy Dencklau of Woodburn, Earl Deverle Fisher of Gresham and Tiler Evan Pribbernow of Portland are accused of kidnapping and murdering Huggins to “advance their positions” in the gang, the US Attorney’s Office said in a release.
The three were indicted June 28, but the indictment was unsealed Friday.
“This indictment is an important step toward dismantling this violent gang, and should send a clear message that the Department of Justice will bring to justice those who commit such heinous criminal crimes on our streets,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement.
The Gypsy Jokers in Oregon
‘Bagger Bobby’
Prosecutors said Huggins was killed around June 30, 2015. Huggins lived in Southeast Portland and was a former member of the Gypsy Jokers.
The murder of Robert Lee Huggins was a brutal payback. He was kidnapped, his tortured body then dumped like trash in rural Clark County, according to police and prosecutors.
Huggins — often times called “Bagger Bobby” — was well known within the Gypsy Joker motorcycle gang, senior deputy district attorney Glen Banfield said in 2016.
During a bail hearing at that time, lead detective James Lawrence said:
Huggins was the former treasurer of the local chapter for the Gypsy Joker motorcycle gang and was also known as the “enforcer” or the Sergeant at Arms.
He was kicked out of the gang for breaking 2 rules — shooting heroin and stealing. He was reportedly stealing from the gang to feed his drug use. (Greg; If a club has a no heroin or no needle rule it has to be enforced. The H.A.M.C. cleared out the junkies in the early 80's the junkies loyalty is to the needle not the club or patch. If Huggins aka "Bagger Bobby" as in bag of smack no doubt was addicted to heroin that explains why he would rip off the Portland house of the club pres. to feed the monkey on his back. Bad move hype.)
Around June 30, 2015, Huggins was at a known drug house near NE 119th and NE Holladay Street in Portland. He was kidnapped and driven across the state line into Washington. He was tortured to death.
His body was driven to a rural field in Ridgefield, Washington and dumped. Huggins’ body was found with nails shot through his boots, an X carved on his body and his teeth knocked out.
Detectives were able to piece the case together using cell phone records, which showed the suspects traveling north and into the area where Huggins’ was found. ( Greg: For a serious investigation law enforcement can trace an on cell phone that is one capable of receiving or sending a call or text to within 4 blocks of any cell phone tower. How often do you see cell phone towers around? https://www.techwalla.com/articles/can-you-use-an-old-cell-phone-to-make-a-911-call for more info.)
Huggins’ body was found by loggers. Detectives were able to quickly identify him after looking at his tattoos. They didn’t release his name publicly for several weeks because of the ongoing investigation.
The 2018 indictment
The indictment said the 3 men “engaged in violent actions” that led to Huggins death in a bid to increase “their positions in the GJOMC criminal enterprise,” the US Attorney’s Office said.
Denklau is 58. Fisher is 48 and Pribbernow is 37. They are each charged with:
Murder in the aid of racketeering
Kidnapping in the aid of racketeering resulting in death
Kidnapping resulting in death
Conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death
Over time, the case was investigated by the Portland Police Bureau, the ATF, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Oregon State Police and the state crime labs of both Oregon and Washington.
Copyright 2021 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
https://www.koin.com/news/crime/3-gypsy-jokers-indicted-in-2015-kidnap-murder/
ce raid Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Clubhouse, nearby home in 2015 homicide case
by Jackie LabrecqueFriday, May 6th 2016
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The search warrants were part of the ongoing investigation into the 2015 homicide of 56-year-old Robert Lee Huggins, whose body was found on July 1, 2015, in Clark County, Washington.
Booking photos for Mark Dencklau, Earl Fisher Jr., and Tiler Pribbernow
Police serve search warrant at Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club clubhouse.jpg
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The search warrants were part of the ongoing investigation into the 2015 homicide of 56-year-old Robert Lee Huggins, whose body was found on July 1, 2015, in Clark County, Washington.
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PORTLAND, Ore. — PORTLAND, Ore. -- Portland Police detectives raided the Gypsy Jokers Motorcycle Club in Northeast Portland, as well as a home behind it early Friday morning, after executing a search warrant on both properties. They say it is in connection to the murder of a former member of the club, whose body was found in Clark County.
Detectives spent hours both inside the club and the home, while outside neighbors smiled.
"It's been coming," said neighbor, Connie Johnson. "I mean we've complained about it. The noise, the blowing up half a stick of dynamites out here, getting drunk and stuff like that."
"I'm kinda like happy, the neighborhood ain't got to hear the motorcycles roaring up in the middle of the night, they have wild and crazy parties," said another neighbor who asked to remain anonymous.
The warrant for police to collect evidence is in connection to the murder of 56-year-old Robert Lee Huggins, a former member. State Police SWAT and the Washington County Sheriff's Office helped Portland Police homicide detectives served the warrant early Friday morning.
"Not surprising. I mean when you have a club like that and you're doing things against the law, murder play a part in that," Johnson said.
Loggers found the body of Robert Lee Huggins, 56, last summer in Ridgefield, Washington - about 25 miles north of Portland. He died from multiple blunt and sharp-force injuries.
This week, a grand jury indicted six people in connection to his murder.
"Some of the activities he was involved in ran afoul of his friends," said Detective Jim Lawrence, with Portland Police. "They sought out some retribution as a result."
Mark Dencklau, 56, and Tiler Pribbernow, 34, were arraigned Friday morning. Both pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges, including murder and kidnapping. Earl Fisher, 46, was in court, but did not enter a plea on the same charges.
Kendra Castle blocked her face in the hall of the courthouse, she pleaded not guilty to a charge of hindering prosecution in the case. Ronald Thompson's accused of hindering prosecution, but did not enter a plea.
Malachi Watkins, 32, who is in jail in Washington, is also charged with murder.
Back on North Garfield Avenue, neighbors say perhaps the police presence means they'll see and hear a lot less on their street.
"It's a nuisance to see all these bike gangs come through here, parking the cars in our lot, no respect," Johnson said.
Attorneys representing two of the clients pushed the judge for access to evidence, and said they couldn't speak with the press because they just to have enough information about the case. the five are next due in court the morning of June 20th.
https://katu.com/news/local/police-serve-search-warrants-at-gypsy-joker-motocycle-clubhouse-in-2015-homicide-case
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2016/07/judge_wont_let_gypsy_joker_def.html goes further into the nitty gritty. The GJ had run off Higgins after a brutal beating and taking his Harley and truck for stealing from the club ( he had been the treasurer ) apparently he stole thousands of dollars to feed his drug addiction. When he ripped off the Club Pres. house he tied up his woman to a chair not like they could go the police.
Battle Ground man pleads guilty in motorcycle club killing
By Jessica Prokop, Columbian Assistant Metro Editor
Published: May 18, 2020, 5:04pm
body of a man was dumped in a field off 179st Street in Ridgefield.
Detectives Joe Swenson, left, and Scott Gilberti investigae at the scene of a homocide in Ridgefield Wednesday July 1, 2015. The body of a man was dumped in a field off 179st Street in Ridgefield. (Natalie Behring/The Columbian)
A Battle Ground man and former member of the Gypsy Joker Outlaw Motorcycle Club has pleaded guilty in connection with a 2015 kidnapping and killing of an ousted club member, according to The Oregonian.
Joseph Duane Folkerts, 62, pleaded guilty to conspiring to engage in racketeering in U.S. District Court of Oregon.
His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 30; his recommended sentencing range is about 24 to 30 years.
Folkerts is the fourth defendant to plead guilty in the case. Racketeering, murder and kidnapping charges are pending against three others, who are scheduled for trial Sept. 29, The Oregonian reported last week.
The case stems from the slaying of Robert Lee Huggins, whose body was found July 1, 2015, dumped in a field north of Vancouver.
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2019/09/ex-gypsy-joker-motorcycle-club-member-accused-of-racketeering-fears-retaliation-in-custody-testimony-reveals.html Folkerts went into protective custody and fears for his life. Tiler Evan Pribbernow is now the star witness for the prosecution and will only face racketeering charges.
The 56-year-old Portland man, a former enforcer and treasurer for the Gypsy Jokers known as “Bagger Bobby,” was banned from the group in September 2014 after he stole money to buy heroin, a detective with the Portland Police Bureau said in 2016. Huggins was then “green lit” by the group, meaning members were allowed to “take him out” any time they saw him, the detective said.
Portland’s Gypsy Joker President Mark Leroy Dencklau ordered the attack on Huggins after he robbed Dencklau’s Woodburn, Ore., home and tied up his girlfriend earlier that month. Huggins was kidnapped on June 30, 2015, and was tortured and killed in Woodland before his body was dumped, according to authorities.
Folkerts wasn’t involved in Huggins’ initial abduction, prosecutors said, but he witnessed Huggins’ beating, helped restrain him during the assault and drove his body to be dumped, according to The Oregonian.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Mygrant said Folkerts , at the time of Huggins’ death, was a member of Road Brothers, a different motorcycle club. He was given a patch to join the Gypsy Jokers after the killing.
Folkerts’ lawyer said his client was forced to join the Gypsy Jokers after Huggins’ beating. Folkerts was “beaten out” of the club sometime in 2016, The Oregonian reported.
https://www.columbian.com/news/2020/may/18/battle-ground-man-pleads-guilty-in-motorcycle-club-killing/
Tiler Evan Pribbernow is now a prosecution witness in exchange for a plea to racketeering charges instead of murder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_Joker_Motorcycle_Club
Crime
Gypsy Joker racketeering trial pits cooperating motorcycle club members against leaders
Updated: Oct. 19, 2021, 11:20 a.m. | Published: Oct. 18, 2021, 8:06 p.m.
Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club trial
The Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club's national president, Portland's chapter president and a club member are all accused of conspiracy to commit racketeering.
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By Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Led by the national president of the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Gang known as “The Wiz” and the gang’s Portland chapter president, members kidnapped and tortured an ex-member to death and then threatened witnesses to enforce an unwritten rule that no one talks to police, a federal prosecutor told jurors Monday.
But six men violated the club’s cardinal rule and cooperated with police.
Jurors are expected to hear from them over the next month and a half in the federal trial in Portland of Kenneth Earl Hause, 64, who held the title of the club’s national president for 20 years; Mark Dencklau, 59, the local chapter leader, and Chad Leroy Erickson, 51, another member.
All three are accused of conspiracy to commit racketeering. Dencklau and Erickson face separate charges of kidnapping and murder in aid of racketeering in connection with the violent death of an ex-member.
The six Gypsy Jokers expected to testify against them have already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Each of the six will take the witness stand and say the club is an “outlaw” bikers clan, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah Bolstad said during opening statements.
They also will say they beat and killed Robert “Bagger” Huggins, 56, and dumped his body in Clark County in 2015 at the direction of Dencklau, she said.
Huggins, a struggling heroin addict, had tied up Dencklau’s girlfriend and stolen thousands of dollars from Dencklau’s Woodburn home, the prosecutor said.
They’ll also describe how they committed other crimes to boost their status in the organization, retaliated “quickly and violently” when anyone disrespected them and created a culture of fear so others wouldn’t mess with them, Bolstad told jurors.
“The United States is not asking you to like these witnesses, but the evidence will show the Gypsy Jokers likes them,” Bolstad said. “They’ll tell you how the club works and crimes committed by them.”
She presented the national president’s heavy black leather Gypsy Joker motorcycle jacket as evidence and described how club members wear a diamond-shaped patch with a 1% in it.
“The old saying is that 99% of the motorcycling world is law-abiding,” she said. “This group embraces being part of the 1% who do not follow society’s rules and they wear a patch that says as much.”
In one beating that occurred in Kennewick, Washington, Hause is accused of knocking out the teeth of a man who had been late to a motorcycle run and then having another club member tattoo a large “X” over a Gypsy Joker tattoo on the man’s back, she said.
Lawyers for the three men on trial cautioned jurors to consider the motives of the government’s main witnesses, arguing that by cooperating with prosecutors they’re hoping to draw more lenient sentences.
Other federal witnesses expected to testify received substantial payments from the government to help them relocate or pay rent, the defense attorneys noted and testimony confirmed.
Co-defendant and lead government witness Tiler Evan Pribbernow told investigators “exactly what the government wanted to hear” and other co-defendants fell in line, said attorney Erik E. Eklund, one of Dencklau’s defense lawyers.
Pribbernow delivered the fatal blows to Huggins with baseball bat strikes to his head, according to court records.
Loggers found Huggins’ battered body in a field on July 1, 2015. He had a fractured skull, a broken rib, a broken leg, a removed nipple, nails driven through his boots, slash wounds to his back and face and many blows to his face, prosecutors said.
Huggins had been “beaten out” of the club a year earlier after other members found he had cleaned out the club’s cash draw to feed his heroin habit, Bolstad said.
The cooperating witnesses “curried favor with the government to get the best possible sentences for themselves,” said defense lawyer Thomas K. Coan, representing Erickson.
Defense lawyers said their clients are motorcycle aficionados who sought camaraderie but didn’t fit into the more establishment American Motorcycle Association.
“They like bikes loud and fast,” Eklund said. “And it may not be surprising to know that some of these people use methamphetamine and some of them sell methamphetamine on their own time. And some of these steal motorcycles on their own time.”
Eklund argued that no physical evidence ties Dencklau to Huggins’ murder, so the government had to rely on his co-defendants to implicate him.
“They don’t have anything on Dencklau except for a motive,” he said.
Erickson was present but didn’t participate in the beating or killing of Huggins, said his lawyer, Coan.
Erickson wasn’t aware Huggins had been kidnapped from Portland and was trying to find Huggins in Longview, Washington, himself because he knew the chapter president was looking for Huggins, Coan said.
Once he met other club members at a rural Washington location where Huggins was taken and tortured, Erickson admittedly didn’t intervene or tell the others to stop, but was “frozen or paralyzed by his loyalties to the club or his fear,” Coan said.
The brutal beating and torture of Huggins “was worse than anything he had seen in Iraq,” Coan said of his client.
Police mistakenly thought Erickson was an “enforcer” or “sergeant in arms” for the club, when he was simply a sergeant in the U.S. Army, Coan said.
Erickson, who was born and raised in Portland, didn’t join the Gypsy Jokers to commit crimes, but saw it as a substitute of sorts for his military experience, offering a sense of camaraderie and loyalty, his lawyer said. Erickson was never an officer in the club but a member who held menial-type roles, Coan said.
The defense lawyer also accused the government of improperly coaching witnesses. Coan said investigators didn’t record the final interviews of the cooperating co-defendants and asked one defendant to look at statements made by other cooperating witnesses to try to refresh his memory.
“Guess what? The next day he remembers something,” said Coan, who didn’t identify which witness that involved.
Hause faces a single count of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy.
He’s a father and grandfather who ran a motorcycle shop in Coos Bay for 20 years after his U.S. Navy service, said his lawyer, Todd E. Bofferding.
The 1% on the Gypsy Jokers’ patch poked fun at the more straight-laced American Motorcycle Association, Bofferding said.
“Back in the ‘50s, the American Motorcycle Association was basically kind of like AARP” – if you had a motorcycle, you could sign up, he said.
“Well, not everybody wants to be a member of something like that,” Bofferding said. “And the AMA stated that 99% of all motorcycle riders are part of our club.”
He argued that the government’s allegations of racketeering are a serious overstep and that any problems between the men were individual disputes not representative of the club.
“These men have strong personalities,” Bofferding said. “When strong personalities clash, oftentimes there’s fights, fights between independent men. It’s the affairs of individual men, not the club. It’s overreaching. It’s overcharging.”
Caleb Enk, an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was the first witness called by the prosecution.
He confirmed that his agency paid about $125,000, divided between five witnesses, including about $75,000 to Dencklau’s ex-girlfriend who was moved out of state, and $15,000 to Pribbernow’s family, also moved out of state for safety.
Some of the money covered the moves, their stay in long-term motels or first-and-last months of rent, meals and utilities for those put up in apartments, Enk said.
The trial is expected to last six weeks. Prosecutors plan to call 80 witnesses and present about 200 pieces of evidence, including Gypsy Joker meeting minutes, recorded jail calls of some co-defendants and GPS tracking of the defendants’ cell phones to pinpoint their locations during various alleged crimes.
U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut presided over the opening of the trial after Judge Michael W. Mosman tested positive for COVID-19 two days after jury selection. Mosman is expected to return as trial judge in one to two weeks, Immergut told lawyers and the jurors.
-- Maxine Bernstein
Email mbern...@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212
Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2021/10/gypsy-jokers-racketeering-trial-pits-cooperating-motorcycle-club-members-against-leaders.html So that is 6 Gypsy Jokers testifying against 3 others. Caleb Enk, an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was the first witness called by the prosecution.
He confirmed that his agency paid about $125,000, divided between five witnesses, including about $75,000 to Dencklau’s ex-girlfriend who was moved out of state, and $15,000 to Pribbernow’s family, also moved out of state for safety.
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