Attack on Lexington motorcycle club is cited as charges against 14 members of a rival gang

An alleged attack on a Lexington motorcycle club plays a major role in federal charges against members of a rival gang.

A federal grand jury last week indicted members of the Thug Riders Motorcycle Club (TRMC), based in Dayton, Ohio, on charges of organized crime, assault in aid of organized crime, conspiracy and attempted assault.

The indictment names 14 TRMC members, but not all of them were charged on all counts.

One incident cited in the indictment as an example of the club’s alleged illegal activities occurred in Lexington in April 2023, when more than half a dozen club members drove from Ohio to Lexington to seek revenge on a rival motorcycle gang called the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, according to the indictment.

Members of the TRMC suspected that two of their members from Kentucky had been attacked by members of the Outlaws MC, the indictment states.

According to the indictment, the two clubs were fighting over control of the area.

TRMC members from Ohio met with members of the Richmond chapter of the club at a gas station on North Broadway in Lexington and swapped the Ohio license plates on their motorcycles for stolen Kentucky license plates, the indictment says.

Club members then went to the Outlaws MC clubhouse on Bryan Avenue and fired at least 192 shots into the building, according to the indictment.

The building was occupied at the time. Whether members of the Outlaws MC were injured was not mentioned in the indictment.

The attack and the planning that preceded it formed the basis for the conspiracy charge in the indictment against ten TRMC members.

A Kentucky club member who allegedly helped distribute stolen license plates, 32-year-old Joseph Michael Rader, was arrested last week and was scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court in Lexington on Monday.

Background information on the Dayton Club

The indictment says the TRMC founded the Dayton chapter in 2019. Juan Anthony Robles, 45, one of the men named in the indictment, was instrumental in founding the new chapter and is the organization’s current Midwest leader, the indictment says.

The organization itself was founded in 2004 as an “outlaw motorcycle gang” and, according to the indictment, has branches throughout the United States and in other countries, including Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany.

The organization earns its money through membership fees, payments from sponsors and other means, including illegal alcohol sales and stripper shows, the indictment says.

According to the indictment, the members were involved in extortion, identity fraud and violent acts such as murder, arson and assault.

Other incidents named in the indictment include blowing up the vehicle of a former club member who failed to pay the $1,000 fee to leave the organization and firing more than 40 shots at a Chevrolet Tahoe outside a Dayton liquor store, killing one of the occupants.

The men in the SUV got into an altercation with TRMC members after they were turned away from a club event, the indictment says.

The Dayton Daily News reported that about 300 police officers from various agencies were involved in the arrest of TRMC members in four states last week.

According to the newspaper, federal authorities said at a press conference that police seized about 100 weapons and 15,000 rounds of ammunition during the arrests.