Four missing Hells Angels members, who are presumed murdered, were secretly cremated at a California funeral home, according to federal prosecutors.
A California funeral home was used by Hells Angels to secretly cremate four missing members, according to federal prosecutors.
In court documents filed days before the sentencing this week of a former Hells Angels chapter president, prosecutors dropped surprising allegations that a Fresno funeral home was used several times to burn bodies of missing or murdered Hells Angels members.
Prosecutors filed the documents last week. They precede Thursday's scheduled sentencing of Merl Hefferman, 54, the former leader of Fresno's Hell Angels chapter. Hefferman has pleaded guilty to obstructing justice for helping arrange the cremation of Joel Silva, the president of the motorcycle group's Sonoma chapter.
Hefferman was not charged in connection with Silva's death.
In the sentencing document, prosecutors are seeking more than seven years in prison for Hefferman.
Silva was shot in the back of the head in 2014 for "creating problems" for the motorcycle gang, prosecutors said. Three Hells Angels members were convicted of his murder in 2022.
Prosecutors alleged that besides Silva, three other Hells Angels members were cremated at the facility, which the gang called the "pizza oven."
The three were identified as Robbie Huff, last seen in 2015, Arthur Carasis, who disappeared in 2016 and Juan Guevara, who went missing in 2015.
The new allegations from federal prosecutors were largely based on testimony and information from the crematory's manager, who said he was forced to let Hells Angels use his facility for several secret cremations.
Hefferman's attorney strenuously objected to the new claims by federal prosecutors, who said Hefferman was involved in the other cremations.
“The bottom line is if it is information not credible or sufficient to indict by way of grand jury, then it is not sufficiently reliable to consider for sentencing,” James Bustamante, Hefferman’s lawyer, wrote in a rebuttal sentencing memorandum.
Bustamante is seeking a prison term of 30 months for his client.
Hefferman's attorney also claimed the manager's statements and testimony were inconsistent, and that charges have not been filed in connection with the disappearances of Huff, Carasis or Guevara.
Hefferman was charged with one obstruction charge in connection with Silva's cremation. He faced no other charges.
“Despite ample opportunities to do so, it is clear that the Government did not find (the manager) credible enough to seek additional charges by way of the grand jury or for inclusion in the conspiracy charge,” Bustamante wrote in his sentencing memo.
The bodies of the four Hells Angels members have not been found.
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