Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeLocal / Area NewsEight Individuals with Alleged Ties to the Aryan Circle Arrested and Charged...

Eight Individuals with Alleged Ties to the Aryan Circle Arrested and Charged in Connection with Evangeline Perish, Louisiana Murder

Eight alleged members or associates of the Aryan Circle (AC) have been indicted and arrested for their alleged roles in the 2016 murder of an alleged fellow AC gang member, announced Acting Assistant Attorney John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Alexander Van Hook of the Western District of Louisiana.

The superseding indictment, returned by the federal grand jury on March 14, 2018, and unsealed today, charges seven defendants with being accessories-after-the fact in violent crimes in aid of racketeering murder of Clifton Hallmark. The defendants charged in the superseding indictment are David Wayne Williams, 36, of Sulphur, Louisiana; Christina Marie Williams, 38, of Sulphur, Louisiana; Brian Elliot Granger, 36, of Beaumont, Texas; Leland Edward Hamm, 43, of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Richard Alan Smith, 47, of Little Rock Arkansas; Michael Paul Auxilien, 34, of Mamou, Louisiana; and Stone Haynes, 49, of Beaumont, Texas. An indictment charging alleged AC gang member Jeremy Jordan, 38, of Orange, Texas, for the racketeering murder of Clifton Hallmark was returned by the federal grand jury on December 14, 2017, and unsealed today.

According to the indictment, the AC is a powerful race-based, multi-state organization that operates inside and outside of state and federal prisons throughout Texas, Louisiana, and the United States. The AC was established in the mid-1980’s within the Texas prison system (TDCJ). Recently, the AC’s structure and influence expanded to rural and suburban areas throughout Texas, Louisiana, and Missouri. The AC emerged as an independent organization during a period of turmoil within the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT). The AC was relatively small in comparison to other prison-based gang, but grew in stature and influence within TDCJ in the 1990s, largely through violent conflict with other gangs, white and non-white alike.

According to the indictment, the AC enforces its rules and promotes discipline among its members, prospects and associates through murder, attempted murder, assault, robbery and threats against those who violate the rules or pose a threat to the organization. Members, and oftentimes, associates, are required to follow the orders of higher-ranking members without question.

If convicted, the defendants charged with accessory after the fact face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, Jeremy Jordan faces a minimum mandatory sentence of life in prison and $250,000 fine.

An indictment is merely a charge and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

This case is being investigated by a multi-agency task force consisting of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; Federal Bureau of Prisons; Louisiana State Police; Evangeline Parish, Louisiana Sheriff’s Office; Evangeline Parish District Attorney’s Office; Texas Department of Public Safety; Houston Police Department-Gang Division; Texas Department of Criminal Justice; and the Carrollton, Texas, Police Department;

The case is being prosecuted by David Karpel of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominic Rossetti, of the Western District of Louisiana.

- Advertisment -
RELATED ARTICLES
- Advertisment -
- Advertisment -

Most Popular

- Advertisment -

Recent Comments

- Advertisment -