Judge to rule on bail for man in biker melee

Kim Smith

Tuesday, May 7, 2002 | 10:58 a.m.

An Arizona man who remains the only person charged in connection with an April 27 melee at a Laughlin casino could be released from jail today.

Calvin Schaefer was to appear in Justice of the Peace Deborah Lippis' courtroom at 11:30 a.m. to prove that the bail money his friends have raised comes from legitimate means.

Police allege Schaefer, a Chandler sheet metal worker, fired at least 11 shots in the confrontation between the Hells Angels and Mongols, both outlaw biker gangs, at Harrah's during the Laughlin River Run.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Ron Bloxham told Lippis at 9 a.m. today that detectives needed more time to investigate two men who came forward to post the $25,000 Schaefer needs to get out of jail. That amount is 10 percent of Schaefer's total bail of $250,000.

One of the men is the president of the Hells Angel chapter in Mesa and has said he will get a personal loan for $25,000, Bloxham said.

The other man, who has put his house up as collateral, supplied two Social Security numbers that come back to either a woman or a man with a different first name, Bloxham said.

Bloxham said he also intends to file formal charges against Schaefer at the 11:30 a.m. hearing.

Although authorities have conceded they cannot prove any of Schaefer's shots killed anyone, a surveillance tape reportedly shows the Hells Angel member firing three shots at a Mongol, who gets up and limps away, prosecutors say.

Three California men -- Jeramie Dean Bell, 27, of Hughson, Robert Emmet Tumelty, 50, of Stockton, and Anthony Salvador Barrera, 43, of Rancho Cucamonga -- were killed.

Police say Bell and Tumelty, who were members of the Hells Angels, were shot to death. Barrera, a reputed Mongol, was stabbed to death.