Hells Angels member gets 4 years for incinerating murder victim’s body in clandestine cremation

SAN FRANCISCO — Merl Hefferman, the former president of the Fresno Hells Angels who prosecutors believe cremated the bodies of four homicide victims, has been sentenced to four years in federal prison, authorities said. Hefferman, 54, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for a at a Fresno funeral home, and vehemently denied involvement in any others. Prosecutors asked for an 87-month prison term, the defense wanted 30 months and the federal probation department asked for 50 months, authorities said.

The sentence was handed down Thursday morning by U. S. District Judge Edward Chen, the same judge who presided over two lengthy trials that dealt with both the cremation and the underlying murder.

The victim, East Bay resident Joel Silva, was shot in the back of the head in the Hells Angels’ Fresno clubhouse in July 2014, according to the testimony of a former Richmond Hells Angels who dropped out after members of the biker gang beat him to a bloody pulp. Prosecutors accused Hefferman of involvement in four clandestine cremations — all allegedly involving former Hells Angels members who were killed from 2014 to 2016. They argued that cellphone records and statements by the funeral home owner backed up the claim, which Hefferman’s attorney called hearsay and nonsense.

The cremation of Silva was the result of a months-long campaign by Hefferman, who told the director he was interested in making things “disappear” and would one day call upon the man for a favor, prosecutors said. The morning after Silva was killed, Hefferman’s son and another man arrived with a body wrapped in bags and forcibly inserted it into the cremation oven, where a body was already undergoing a cremation, authorities said. The Hells Angels referred to the funeral home as the “pizza oven” and encouraged other members to use it, according to court records.

The other three alleged cremations involved three other missing persons: Robbie Huff, Arthur Carasis and Juan Guevara. Prosecutors say Huff helped cover up Silva’s murder by setting his truck on fire in a remote part of Central California. Before Hefferman was sentenced, his co-defendant Jeremy Greer was given a much stiffer penalty for alleged involvement in a home invasion robbery where he and others broke into a home and robbed marijuana at gunpoint.

Greer pleaded guilty to racketeering, but his attorney said in court papers he was no longer part of the Hells Angels. The disappearance of his close friend, Silva, convinced him to cut ties with the club, the lawyers said. Four others convicted of involvement in Silva’s murder — Brian Wendt, Christopher Rainieri, Jonathan Nelson and Russell Ott — were all convicted and are eligible for life in prison.

Prosecutors say Wendt personally shot Silva, Nelson was instrumental in planning it, Ott lurned Silva to Fresno and Rainieri was one of the first to come up with the idea to kill him. Silva was marked for death during a trip to a motorcycle event on the East Coast, where his offensive behavior angered other club members. The tipping point was when he threatened to kill Rainieri’s close friend, authorities say.

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