12/3/2009 6:00:00 AM Gang task force arrests 6, including 2 in Kingman
ERIN TAYLOR/Miner
A member of the state gang task force conducts surveillance during the American Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs meeting in downtown Kingman Nov. 7.
KINGMAN - The state gang task force revealed one of the main reasons for its surveillance of motorcycle clubs for the last several months with the announcement of six arrests Wednesday.
Two Kingman men were among the six arrested. A seventh person, 53-year-old George Edward Walters of Kingman, is still being sought.
The men face riots charges in connection with an incident at Lazy Harry's bar in Bullhead City June 11.
Sgt. Ernie Severson with GIITEM task force (Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission) said five Hell's Angels and two Desert Road Riders entered the bar that night and targeted two Vago club members who were seated on a back patio.
The seven men attacked the two Vago club members in a fight that Severson said put the other 100 patrons in the bar at the time at risk. "Two females climbed over a railing and contemplated jumping down 20 to 30 feet to get away, if that tells you what it was like," Severson said.
Those arrested were Rudolfo John Martinez, 44, of Rimrock; Gerald Roy Smith, 47, of Rimrock; Dale Leroy Hormuth, 49, of Kingman; James Snider, 45, of Kingman; Stephen Michael Helland, 60, of Golden Valley; and Clifford Daniel Balentine, 54, of Bullhead City.
Balentine is the former president of the Desert Road Riders but is now a member of the Devil's Disciples.
Martinez and Smith are currently being held in Yavapai County but are expected to be extradited to Mohave County where the other four suspects are being held.
The riot charges are classified as a class 5 felony. Additional charges of participating in a criminal gang or syndicate may also be added.
The men were arrested without incident in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday morning.
An eighth individual, John Ross Pemberton, 29, of Prescott Valley, was cited and released for possession of prescription drugs which were not his and possession of illegal fireworks. Pemberton, vice-president of the Nomad chapter of the Hell's Angels, was served with the search warrant because of his ties with the other men.
The arrests were the result of a combined effort between the Department of Public Safety, Kingman Police, Flagstaff Police, the Coconino County Sheriff's Office, Fort Mohave Tribal Police, Prescott Valley Police, Bullhead City Police, Lake Havasu Police and the Mohave County Sheriff's Office for what the agencies dubbed "Operation Quiet Riot."
Kingman Police Chief Robert DeVries said the investigation was part of the reason local events like the Bike Night were under surveillance by police, but added that the event had received complaints independent of the investigation, including allegations by members of the public of harassment and intimidation.
"Riding a motorcycle is not illegal," he said. "We have made it clear that our focus was one thing and one thing only, and that is criminal activity."
Law enforcement officials said they could not disclose the reason for the surveillance earlier without risking the integrity of the investigation.
Severson said the investigation included more than 40 interviews of witnesses who were at Lazy Harry's when the fight broke out.
It is unclear the extent of the injuries received by the two Vagos who were targeted because they were not at the scene when police arrived.
Posted: Saturday, December 05, 2009
Article comment by:
C.C.C.
Is it true what "Name Is important as the article"
wrote?
"The law describes a gang as three or more hanging out together."
This is a real question, that needs an answer, for if it is true then it is "A STUPID LAW THAT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED!"
Think about it things like Student uniforms, little league,cheer leaders, veterans groups, bowling teams, Police officers, juries,! How many of these violate such a stupid law?
Posted: Saturday, December 05, 2009
Article comment by:
minga
so who is the good bikers Sam
Posted: Friday, December 04, 2009
Article comment by:
Mrs. AHJ
Would any of you citizens dare to repeat your "on line gripes" if you were face to face with these people you don't know, but continue to bad mouth. At your next book burning you should burn No Angel. Get a clue people! They aren't the enemy. YOU are.
Posted: Friday, December 04, 2009
Article comment by:
BUBBA HOWARD
Let this be a warning to all cowboy's and anyone getting into a bar fight, our law enforcement will now go after you! and charge you with starting a riot! I know that our police are fair and would not single out one group of people over another, for starting a riot, so I would expect our above the board legal system will just not just hunt bike clubs, but all bar fighters on a equal basis? YEA SURE!
Posted: Friday, December 04, 2009
Article comment by:
mcrider
It seems to me that all these posts in support of the police were submitted by one or more police officers.
Posted: Friday, December 04, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
RIDICULOUS, which gang do you belong to? HA or DRR? Or are you just a wannabe?
Posted: Friday, December 04, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
What a joke!!!!! The government justifying money spent on gang's by going after people getting in bar fights. The gang and so called immigration task force needs to go after those it was designed to go after illegal aliens immigrants.
I wrote about this in a previous submission and this news paper censored it. Apparently this paper does not want any discussion on illegal aliens in this paper.
This paper refuses to allow people to demonstrate their discontent for our governments failure to do it's job.
Apparently we as citizens will need to write up fliers as we did during the times previous to the revolutionary war.
Posted: Friday, December 04, 2009
Article comment by:
Name is important as the article
What people don't realize when they say no colors the choice of no colors even means you can not wear route 66 cruisers shirts, marine corps shirts, or any military type outfit because that is considered colors and who are you to discriminate against who can or can not come in. This also follows along the lines of christian groups to. So if you want no colors policy all of those have to be upheld to. The law describes a gang as a group of 3 or more people hanging out together.
By the way stevie vehicles that are on the road only have to pass certain db at idol other than that nothing you can do unless what people consider abuse of power which is a vehicle accelerating to fast casuing high rpms and that is a way you can get a ticket. I have also noticed how people on here are only willing to talk crap about gangs behind a security net it is funny and pathetic at the same time.
Posted: Friday, December 04, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Or use those same resources to arrest the man who raped my mom 6 mo ago. They have all the evidence they need to do so they are just to busy worrying about the bikers even ones not doing any thing wrong.
Posted: Friday, December 04, 2009
Article comment by:
James
Nice job Law Enforcement! Thank you for letting these gang banging initmidators know we will not tolerate them here.
Posted: Friday, December 04, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
AMAZING GANG TASK FORCE IS SPENDING GOD KNOWS HOW MUCH MONEY WITH THERE TIME AND ENERGY SERVAILING BIKE NIGHT AND AFTER ALL OF THAT THEY CANT PREVENT A BAR FIGHT..ITS AMAZING HOW STUPID..THEY JUST USED THIS BAR FIGHT AS A REASON TO JUSTIFY THER SERVAILANCE FOR THE LAST SIX MONTHS..HARDLY WORTH IT..
Posted: Friday, December 04, 2009
Article comment by:
Tired Of Waste
I say Get The Riff Raff out of here! I agree they should work on the illegal alien problem but when was the last time you heard of the Illegal Aliens starting a bar riot over who's territory they were in? THANK YOU Gang Task Force! Those of us who are LAW ABIDING CITIZENS will back you ALL THE WAY!
Posted: Friday, December 04, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
A lot of the bars around here are full of criminals. The bar owners complain about lack of customers and blame things like the smoking ban. Baloney...it's because they let low life losers hang out and create an atmosphere that scares off the regular people. And something about the stoery doesn't make snese...they say 100 eople were there on a Thursday night....hmmm almost never that many people there on a weekend. But then it's not unusual for the "officials" to stretch the truth to suit thier needs. I'd like to know hhow many $$$$$.$$ they spent on this. They should be accountable to the taxpayers...we're their boss.
Posted: Thursday, December 03, 2009
Article comment by:
wibeancounter
Sounds like some bikers as well as the task force have too much time on their hands. I lean toward the side of the police. However, it's their charge to protect non-trouble making citizens.
Posted: Thursday, December 03, 2009
Article comment by:
kingsman
well only if the popo would put that much effort into getting vicious graffitti painting low riding gangs off our streets and the hell out of our town-you know the ones that attack inocent people for initiations at least the bike gangs generaly keep their crimes among there own-and for the most part part if you looked at on driving down the street u wouldnt be attacked for mad dogging---you know what im talking about-im not impressed kpd --so start doing your jobs and get off your lazy a@#@$
Posted: Thursday, December 03, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Thanks Law Enforcement for doing a great job protecting our community. Send these gang banger intimidators away for a long time. All of you HA puppets donning red and white support patches are a bunch of sheep... HA cheerleaders with pom poms. The hells angels are all about intimidation. Thanks PD and all LE for letting them know we citizens have had enough.
Posted: Thursday, December 03, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Let's see a "bar fight", and charges brought approx. 6 months after the fact, sounds like a legal time limit has almost been reached to file any charges, and no other charges filed even though the BAD guys were not even home when their homes were "searched" and they were arrested at work, Seems the "news" agency should at least print the real facts, people probably lost jobs, had their homes destroyed, no other "charges" brought.. Lets Sensationalise Busting Gang Members over a bar fight; Now I'll ask how many of your so called UP-standing citizens have been involved in at least 1 bar fight if not a lot more; Seems you people need to get a clue about your own personal rights and where they are going before you end up on the recieving end of Giitme for some ludicrous reason!!! I was a bouncer for a very long time; the worst people causing problems: police officers, court officials, politicians, ahhh but you really never hear about that it gets squashed quickly. Wake up bozos YOU are next unless you have $$$ or power in some way...
Posted: Thursday, December 03, 2009
Article comment by:
ALL THIS FROM A BAR FIGHT
What a waste of tax payer money...
This hasn't even went to trail and look out all the drive-by's with diarrhea of the mouth.
Posted: Thursday, December 03, 2009
Article comment by:
Jen
Really guys? How stupid are you? The cops have to come up with this lame crap to justify all the harassment they have caused. Really it takes 6 months of 'surveillance' to catch some dudes in a bar fight with no apparent victims and charge them with riot charges? Honestly, go buy a frickin doughnut it would be more productive
Posted: Thursday, December 03, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
The cheif of Police said it best, the issue is not colors, it is dealing with criminal acts. Why does are community support teh criminal instead of the police. All I read about is people whinning and complaining about how bad it is and when the police act, that they did something wrong, when it was help the community in solving issues they themselves have created. Wake up people help solve the issues instead of creating new ones. blind sheep are blind sheep and we sure have enough of them.
Posted: Thursday, December 03, 2009
Article comment by:
lodur
Since when is a Bar fight a Riot? also do you really want the Vagos in town?
Posted: Thursday, December 03, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Now we can justify spending more money on the gang task force. Now we can justify making this more of a police state. Be careful when things are made out to be so great, such as this force.
Posted: Thursday, December 03, 2009
Article comment by:
Tony
Sounds like all this "heat" put on lately was certainly justified....maybe now everyone can get their underwear unbunched, and let the cops do their jobs. It sounded like a bunch of whining going on, mostly from the bikers. Funny how things end up sometimes, huh?
Posted: Thursday, December 03, 2009
Article comment by:
KnowThemRydas
I know some of these men mentioned. They are not midlife crisis wannabe bad boy motorcycle riders. They have been motorcycle club members for over 40 years in some cases and have just continued their ways.
Posted: Thursday, December 03, 2009
Article comment by:
FreedomLover
Too bad they don't use this many resources to arrest illegal aliens. Something about how all this was conducted just doesn't seem right.
