Two members of the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club were sentenced to life in federal prison Thursday for the 2015 torture killing of a former member whose body was dumped in a field near Ridgefield.
A federal jury found the president of the Portland chapter, Mark Leroy Dencklau, 61, of Woodburn, Ore., and another member, Chad Leroy Erickson, 51, of Rainier, Ore., guilty in December of murder in aid of racketeering; kidnapping in aid of racketeering, resulting in death; kidnapping resulting in death; and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, resulting in death in the slaying of Robert Lee Huggins Jr. Dencklau was also convicted of racketeering conspiracy, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“Mark Dencklau and Chad Erickson will rightfully serve the rest of their lives in federal prison,” Scott Erik Asphaug, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, said in a press release. “These men prided themselves in using violence to intimidate others and increase their power and influence among club members and rivals. Organized violent crime has no place in Oregon and will not be tolerated.”
Huggins, 56, of Portland, a former enforcer and treasurer for the Gypsy Jokers known as “Bagger Bobby,” was banned from the group in September 2014 after he stole money to buy heroin, a detective with the Portland Police Bureau said in 2016.
