ROCK HILL, S.C., March 21 (UPI) -- Three people with connections to a South Carolina chapter of the Hells Angels were convicted Thursday of drug, weapons and conspiracy charges.
Twelve people associated with the Rock Hill chapter of the motorcycle club have previously pleaded guilty in prosecutions following June raids at the gang's clubhouses in South Carolina and North Carolina, The (Rock Hill (S.C.) Herald reported.
Charges were dismissed at trial for one gang member and one prospective member and charges against two others were dropped before trial. Trial is expected to begin Monday for one defendant.
Local, state and federal authorities -- acting in 2011 and 2012 on evidence gathered through informants, wiretaps and surveillance -- investigated the Hells Angels and the Red Devils, another motorcycle gang, both operating in Rock Hill and York County.
Prosecutors said the three who were convicted Thursday -- Mark "Lightning" Baker, of Lancaster, president of the Rock Hell Nomads; David "Gravel Dave" Oiler, of Lancaster; and Bruce "Bruce-Bruce" Long, of West Columbia -- face life sentences for selling cocaine, methamphetamine and guns, and laundered money as part of a crime ring.
Ron "Big Ron" Byrum and Kerry "Gowilla" Chitwood, both of Gastonia, and Trent Brown, of West Columbia -- all of whom pleaded guilty before trial -- also face life sentences.
The nine others convicted in the case face as much as 20 years in prison when they are sentenced in May.
