2 members of Mongols Motorcycle Club arrested for deadly fight at Ontario bar in March
Two members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club were arrested in connection with a deadly fight that happened at a bar in San Bernardino County in early March, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The incident happened at a bar in Ontario back on March 6, when prosecutors say that two members of the Southern California-based club "violently attacked" the victim, who was a member of the Vagos Motorcycle Club, a rival group.
They have been identified as 51-year-old Montclair man Clifford Michael Lavoy, also known as "Buckshot" and 35-year-old Upland man Julian Pulido, also known as "Juls."
"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," prosecutors said.
Following that confrontation, the pair "assaulted and overpowered" the victim by punching and choking him, causing injuries to the face, head and neck.
When he tried to run, Pulido allegedly drew a gun and fired several times, striking the victim in the back. He fell through the bar door and onto the sidewalk where he died, prosecutors said. He was declared dead at 2:45 a.m.
The DOJ statement says that Pulido was located by authorities later that same day, but he led them on a nine-hour chase that spanned across five Southern California counties. The pursuit only came to an end when he crashed a black Dodge vehicle into a ditch at high speeds while driving along Highway 46 in the Lost Hills community of Kern County.
When he was finally arrested, prosecutors say he was in possession of the same Mongols-branded clothing that he was wearing the night of the victim's murder.
Lavoy was also arrested in Whittier but he was released sometime after he was booked, the DOJ statement said. Authorities took him into custody again on Wednesday, April 16. He was booked on a federal criminal complaint that charges him with assault resulting in serious bodily injury in aid of racketeering. He made his first court appearance the same day and was ordered jailed without bond at least until a scheduled arraignment hearing on May 6. He faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 yeas behind bars.
Pulido was charged with the same federal complaint with murder in the aid of racketeering, prosecutors noted. He has been charged with murder and is expected to make his first court appearance in coming weeks in Riverside federal court. If convicted of all charges, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in federal prison.
