Source: Office of United States Attorneys
RIVERSIDE, California – A member of the Mongols Motorcycle Club was arrested today, and another Mongols member has been charged, both in connection with the assault and murder of a rival motorcycle gang member at a San Bernardino County bar last month.
Clifford Michael Lavoy, 51, a.k.a. “Buckshot,” of Montclair, was arrested on a federal criminal complaint that charges him with assault resulting in serious bodily injury in aid of racketeering. Julian Pulido, 35, a.k.a. “Juls,” of Upland is charged via the same federal complaint with murder in aid of racketeering.
Lavoy was arrested this morning and made his initial appearance in United States District Court in Riverside this afternoon. A federal magistrate judge ordered him jailed without bond and scheduled a May 6 arraignment in Riverside federal court.
Pulido currently is in state custody, charged in San Bernardino County Superior Court with murder. He is expected to make his initial appearance in Riverside federal court in the coming weeks.
According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, during the early morning hours of March 4, Pulido and Lavoy violently attacked the victim – a member of the Vagos, a rival motorcycle gang and who is identified in court documents as “V.S.” – at an Ontario bar. Inside the bar, the defendants confronted the victim, who was wearing clothing reflecting his Vagos membership, argued with him, and told the victim that he needed to show respect to them as Mongols members.
Later, the defendants assaulted and overpowered the victim, including by punching the victim in the face, choking him, and causing injuries to the victim’s face, head, and neck.
When the victim tried to run out of the bar, Pulido allegedly pulled out a gun and shot the victim several times in the back, causing the victim to fall through the door of the bar and bleed out on the sidewalk. The defendants then fled the scene. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:45 a.m.
Later that same day, Pulido led law enforcement on a nine-hour chase across five counties in California. He was arrested after crashing a black Dodge vehicle into a ditch during a high-speed chase along Highway 46 near Lost Hills in Kern County. At the time of his arrest, Pulido possessed the same Mongols-branded clothing he had worn on the night of V.S.’s murder.
Lavoy was arrested in Whittier, was booked then later released.
A criminal complaint contains allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
If convicted, Pulido would face a mandatory minimum sentence of life in federal prison and Lavoy would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating this matter with the Ontario Police Department. The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office provided substantial assistance.
Assistant United States Attorneys Declan T. Conroy and Daniel H. Weiner of the Transnational Organized Crime Section are prosecuting this case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).