Another Pagan pleads guilty to conspiracy in beating at Charleroi social club
A suspected national leader of the Pagan Motorcycle Club was sentenced to 4 to 8 years in state prison when he pleaded guilty Monday in a deal with Washington County prosecutors.
Michael Thomas 鈥淢ontana鈥� Barringer, 50, of Morris Township, Washington County, entered the plea before Common Pleas Judge John F. DiSalle, admitting to a charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.
The county detectives who charged Barringer in late September accused him of ordering the April 18 beating of Troy Harris in the Charleroi Slovak Club. He was one of 11 people 鈥� most of them members of the Pagans from Washington and surrounding counties 鈥� who were charged with attempted homicide and related offenses in the beating that, according to testimony, sent Harris to multiple hospitals and other care facilities for months.
Remaining charges, including a more serious one of conspiracy to commit attempted homicide, were dropped in exchange for Barringer鈥檚 plea.
The beating caused Harris 鈥� himself a former member of the club who鈥檇 joined the Sutars Soldiers, a recent offshoot of the Pagans 鈥� with cognitive problems and other injuries, according to police, who have yet to name a specific motive for the beating.
Deputy District Attorney Jason Walsh said he couldn鈥檛 speak to the reasons that Barringer and some other defendants had agreed to pleas so quickly, saying the question was better left to their attorneys.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 between them and their client,鈥� Walsh said. 鈥淚 think the commonwealth has a strong case, and I鈥檓 confident in it and ready to go to trial.鈥�
Barringer鈥檚 attorney, William Difenderfer, didn鈥檛 immediately return a call on Tuesday afternoon.
Days before filing charges against Barringer, county Chief Detective John Tobin interviewed one of the men accused of carrying out the beating, Paul Anthony Cochran of Charleroi. Cochran allegedly confessed to his involvement in what happened to Harris, who resides in Fallowfield Township. Both men are 54.
Tobin claimed in court documents Cochran said 鈥淢ontana鈥� told him at a gathering at a bar in Perryopolis, Fayette County, to lead a group of club members to Charleroi to 鈥渟end him a message.鈥� Cochran purportedly admitted that he knew that to mean for them to assault Harris. Police said Montana is Barringer鈥檚 nickname.
Court records identified Barringer as the Pagans鈥� national sergeant at arms. The FBI classifies the group as an outlaw biker gang.
Walsh said that Barringer and some other Pagans who pleaded so far are 鈥渘ot cooperating witnesses鈥� against fellow members who are set to go to trial on Dec. 9.
Cochran, 54, is the only member of the group who is.
Others who are expected to testify for the government if needed are Jamie Granato 鈥� who was fianc茅e to Matthew Vasquez, another of the accused, at the time of the beating 鈥� and Zackary Yagnich, a 27-year-old officer of the Slovak Club, which is located at 700 McKean Ave. So is James Baranowski, a retired state police sergeant and former candidate for Fayette County sheriff.
Yagnich took the stand in previous hearings and admitted that he unlocked the door to the club, where Harris was sitting at the bar, on the night of the attack.
Investigators say Baranowski, who was hired as a private investigator for defendants in the case, of offered the victim and his wife, Michele Harris, 鈥済uaranteed financial support and protection from harm for the rest of their lives鈥� if they didn鈥檛 pursue charges in the case.
He also said that another Pagan leader who wasn鈥檛 said to have been present for the attack, Brian Keruskin of Charleroi, had asked him about possibly deleting security footage from the bar. The footage of the beating ultimately wasn鈥檛 deleted, and is being used as evidence by the government.
Keruskin, 57, pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit aggravated assault earlier this month. He was sentenced to 2陆 to 8 years in prison.
Walsh said on Tuesday that he鈥檇 been at a pre-trial conference for the members of the gang who are still expected for trial. They are Jason Huff, 40, of Plum; Vasquez, 31, of Monessen; John Sadvary, 40, of Penn Hills; and Joseph Olinsky, 46, of McKeesport. They are being denied bail pending the outcome of their cases.