Final Clarksville Mongols motorcycle gang criminal gets 10 years in prison, ending ‘reign of terror’

CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The final defendant among 18 members and associates of the Clarksville Mongols Motorcycle Club was sentenced to federal prison on Wednesday, bringing to an end a “reign of terror” committed by the gang, according to Henry C. Leventis, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.

James Hines, 47, was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in prison. Hines was the last remaining defendant to be sentenced.

“Today’s sentence concludes a multi-year, coordinated effort by federal, state, and local law enforcement, our office, and the Justice Department’s Criminal Division to address some of the worst organized criminal activity we have seen in Middle Tennessee,” Leventis said in a news release. “As a result of that outstanding work, our communities are safer, and multiple violent criminals are being held to account for their actions. I am grateful for the efforts of everyone involved in this remarkable investigation and prosecution.”

Who are the Mongols?

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the Clarksville Mongols were a violent motorcycle gang affiliated with the Mongols Motorcycle Club, an international organization that identifies as an “outlaw” motorcycle gang, meaning its members define themselves as within the “1%” of motorcycle clubs who do not adhere to the law or the rights of others, according to the release. Sayings like, “Respect Few, Fear None” and “Live Mongol Die Mongol” represent their cut-throat attitude and they identify themselves with vests, patches, tattoos, and insignia identifying their connection to the Mongols.

In early 2015, some of the defendants sought to transition from another motorcycle club and establish the Clarksville Mongols because, at the time, the Mongols did not occupy or claim any territory in Tennessee. As a show of loyalty and to gain favor with the Mongols, those individuals committed a drive-by shooting and burned down the Sin City Motorcycle Club’s clubhouses in Clarksville and Nashville, the release said. These initial violent acts were designed to curry favor with the Mongols and paved the way for the Clarksville Mongols to obtain a firm foothold in Tennessee.

Murder of Stephanie Bradley

One of the earliest and most violent acts committed by the Clarksville Mongols occurred on May 22, 2015, with the kidnapping and murder of Stephanie Bradley, a young mother. The Clarksville Mongols believed Bradley had stolen narcotics, money and firearms, had knowledge about the theft of such items, and had been speaking negatively to others about the Clarksville Mongols, the release said. On the day of her murder, the Clarksville Mongols kidnapped Bradley at gunpoint then drove her to an area behind a secluded cemetery where they shot her numerous times, killing her. Bradley’s body was recovered almost 15 months after she was murdered.

These acts marked the beginning of the Clarksville Mongols – an enterprise that engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity from 2015 through 2018. During that time, in order to enrich the Mongols and to maintain control of the Mongols’ new territory in Tennessee, the Clarksville Mongols engaged in a pattern of violent criminal activity, including murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, assaults, narcotics trafficking, robbery, extortion, money laundering, witness tampering and various firearms offenses, the release said. Members and associates of the Clarksville Mongols also participated in large-scale drug-trafficking and money-laundering activities with the help of Mongols members from California, who supplied the Clarksville Mongols with more than 50 pounds of almost 100% pure methamphetamine worth approximately $1 million for distribution in and around Tennessee and Kentucky.

Murder of Stephen Cole

The Clarksville Mongols’ violent conduct culminated in the kidnapping and murder of Stephen Cole, a former Clarksville Mongol, the release said. During the early morning hours of Nov. 19, 2017, they kidnapped Cole and took him to another member’s house where they held Cole hostage, used zip ties to restrain him, and viciously beat, tortured and interrogated him for hours, causing him to suffer three fractured vertebrae in his neck, five fractured ribs, blunt force trauma to his head, and a broken eye socket. One member told another that they beat Cole so severely that his flesh was falling off his face. They ultimately murdered Cole by driving a 10-inch tent stake through his head. They buried his body in a secluded field behind an abandoned residence. Cole’s body was recovered almost a year later.

The federal sentences are as follows:

• James Wesley Frazier, 36, sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison.
• Aelix Santiago, 35, sentenced to 40 years in prison.
• Kyle Heade, 37, sentenced to 9 years in prison.
• Joel Aldridge, 43, sentenced to 25 years in prison.
• James Hines, 47, sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in prison.
• Michael Forrester Jr., 35, sentenced to 17 ½ years in prison.
• Jamie Hern, 44, sentenced to 30 years in prison.
• Robert Humiston, 31, sentenced to 8 years and 4 months in prison.
• Michael Myers, 40, sentenced to 7 years in prison.
• Michael Levi West, 41, sentenced to 9 years in prison.
• Adrianna Miles, 28, sentenced to 7 years in prison.
• Derek Leighton Stanley, 49, sentenced to 18 ½ years in prison.
• William Boylston, 33, sentenced to life plus 7 years in prison.
• Jason Meyerholz, 49, sentenced to life plus 7 years in prison.
• Christopher Michael Wilson, 41, sentenced to 15 years in prison.
• Jessie Marie Decker, 38, sentenced to time served.
• Janie Lee, 28, sentenced to 6 years and 8 months in prison.
• Christian Dykes, 35, sentenced to time served.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), the Clarksville Police Department, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and the Kentucky State Police investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn Risinger and Chris Suedekum for the Middle District of Tennessee and Trial Attorney Matthew Mattis with the Justice Department’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section prosecuted the case.