West Virginia News
Pagans defendant pleads guilty, agrees to testify
AP
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Prosecutors have turned another member of the Pagans Motorcycle Club into a witness against the outlaw biker gang.
Donnie Ray ‘‘Hoss’’ Workman pleaded guilty Thursday as part of an agreement requiring him to cooperate with prosecutors. Workman’s deal also requires testimony in a federal racketeering case targeting 55 Pagans leaders, members and associates from West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Florida of murder conspiracy, kidnapping and other charges.
As part of the deal, the government is dropping charges covering illegal bodyguarding, illegal firearms possession and conspiring to deal drugs.
Workman, a barrel-chested 35-year-old union ironworker, admitted to a single charge of conspiring to possess firearms while employed by a felon. The charge ties Workman to one of the lead defendants in the case, national Pagans vice president Floyd B. ‘‘Diamond Jesse’’ Moore of St. Albans.
The plea agreement says Workman admits obtaining a permit to carry a concealed weapon to guard Moore, a convicted felon barred from possessing firearms. Workman further admits taking a concealed weapon to Virginia with a group of Pagans under threat of ‘‘discipline’’ by Moore in June 2008.
The other conspiracy charge alleged Workman was dealing drugs with six Pagans and associates, including defendant Edward Parsons, who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate earlier.
Workman faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he’s sentenced in March.
He’s the fifth defendant in the case to cut a plea agreement and agree to help prosecutors. Another defendant is scheduled to plead guilty next week, but court records don’t indicate whether he has agreed to cooperate.
Donnie Ray ‘‘Hoss’’ Workman pleaded guilty Thursday as part of an agreement requiring him to cooperate with prosecutors. Workman’s deal also requires testimony in a federal racketeering case targeting 55 Pagans leaders, members and associates from West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Florida of murder conspiracy, kidnapping and other charges.
As part of the deal, the government is dropping charges covering illegal bodyguarding, illegal firearms possession and conspiring to deal drugs.
Workman, a barrel-chested 35-year-old union ironworker, admitted to a single charge of conspiring to possess firearms while employed by a felon. The charge ties Workman to one of the lead defendants in the case, national Pagans vice president Floyd B. ‘‘Diamond Jesse’’ Moore of St. Albans.
The plea agreement says Workman admits obtaining a permit to carry a concealed weapon to guard Moore, a convicted felon barred from possessing firearms. Workman further admits taking a concealed weapon to Virginia with a group of Pagans under threat of ‘‘discipline’’ by Moore in June 2008.
The other conspiracy charge alleged Workman was dealing drugs with six Pagans and associates, including defendant Edward Parsons, who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate earlier.
Workman faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he’s sentenced in March.
He’s the fifth defendant in the case to cut a plea agreement and agree to help prosecutors. Another defendant is scheduled to plead guilty next week, but court records don’t indicate whether he has agreed to cooperate.
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