Former VP of Modesto Hell's Angels Gets Five Years for Selling Drugs
FRESNO (CBS SF) — The former vice president of the Modesto branch of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club received a five-year prison sentence Friday for possessing heroin and marijuana with intent to sell.
Modesto resident Michael Shafer, 34, pled guilty to the drug trafficking charges back in July of last year. Shafer became the vice president of the motorcycle club in 2019.
Shafer's arrest came after the Department of Justice began a years-long investigation into his motorcycle club, according to U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert.
As part of the investigation, "investigators obtained a court-authorized wiretap for Shafer's phone. The wiretapped calls and messages showed that Shafer was conspiring to distribute marijuana and heroin. Specifically, in April 2019, Shafer conspired with a former Hells Angels member who was incarcerated in Pleasant Valley State Prison to smuggle heroin into prison," the DOJ said in a statement.
The case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice's violent crime reduction efforts.