Biker fails to appear again in Laughlin shootout case

Monday, May 3, 2004 | 9:50 a.m.

One warrant remains outstanding on one of the nine motorcycle gang members indicted for murder and other charges in connection with the deadly April 2002 Laughlin River Run shootout.

Roger Pinney of Los Angeles, who prosecutors allege is the leader of the Mongols motorcycle gang, failed to appear in court Friday for the second time.

His Hells Angels co-defendants, with the exception of one Hells Angel in custody in Arizona, all appeared in court and were allowed to be booked and post bail without being handcuffed.

Mongols member Alexander Alcantar, 30, of Los Angeles, was taken into custody on $600,000 bail.

Prosecutors said Pinney was arguing with the leader of the Hells Angels, Maurice Eunice, 53, of Lakeside, Calif., right before the altercation started.

Defense attorneys for Alcantar, one of Pinney's fellow Mongols bikers, countered that Pinney was trying to defuse the situation after Hells Angels members walked into the Mongols-dominated Harrah's Laughlin.

The 73-count indictment alleges that Alcantar and Pinney, along with Hells Angels Eunice; Calvin Schaefer, 34, of Chandler, Ariz.; Sohn Regas, 37, of Reno; Dale Leedom, 42, of Two Rivers, Alaska; James Hannigan, 36, of Mountain View, Calif.; Raymond Foakes, 40, of Petaluma, Calif.; and Rodney Cox, 45, of Phoenix entered Harrah's with the intention of causing or provoking a fight "to assist the activities of the criminal gang."

The tension of that early morning of April 27 was echoed in the courtroom Friday as about 20 Hells Angels sat in the courtroom with 20 Mongols as bail was set for the seven Hells Angels defendants.

Fourteen bailiffs and two Metro SWAT members lined District Judge Donald Mosley's courtroom, and another three dozen officers lined the hallways.

Prosecutors showed videotapes of the brawl for the first time in public Friday as they argued for $1 million bail, alleging Alcantar is directly responsible for the deaths of two Hells Angels, Jeramie Bell and Robert Tumelty, who were killed in the fight.

Jerome DePalma, Alcantar's attorney, argued that both Mongols were acting in self-defense because Pinney was stabbed twice and Alcantar was stabbed and shot.

DePalma argued that the bail should at least be proportionate to the bail previously set for the Hells Angels defendents.

Mosley had previously issued $250,000 bail for Schaefer, who is already out on bond for federal charges in the shootout. Eunice posted the most bail of any Hells Angel at $500,000.

Hells Angels Leedom and Hannigan each posted $300,000 bail, Foakes paid $150,000 and Sohn Regas paid $100,000. Cox is being held without bail until he can be extradited to Nevada from an Arizona prison.

Mosley set bail for Alcantar at $600,000 after calling the actions of all the motorcycle gang members "childish and silly."

"Unfortunately it has serious circumstances," Mosley said.