Ex-biker club president linked to killing witness charged with having bowling bag full of meth
Cole Waterman | Cole_Waterman@mlive.com March 27, 2024
https://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw-bay-city/2024/03/ex-biker-club-president-linked-to-killing-witness-charged-with-having-bowling-bag-full-of-meth.html?outputType=amp
BAY CITY, MI — Two decades ago, the president of a biker club chapter went to federal prison for trafficking massive quantities of methamphetamine. This was after he allegedly orchestrated the execution of one of his cohorts who was violating the biker code of talking to law enforcement.
On Feb. 23, detectives from the Mid-Michigan Investigative Narcotics Team (MINT) and the Flint Area Narcotics Group (FANG) surveilled the movements of David W. Tice Jr. as he drove around Flint. Tice eventually drove into Isabella County, with police pulling him over on US-10 for numerous violations, according to court records.
A police K-9 unit hit on Tice’s vehicle, prompting police to search it. They found a black bowling bag behind the driver’s seat, inside of which were two bags containing a combined 924.5 grams or 2.038 pounds of meth.
Also in the bag was a loaded Colt .38-caliber revolver, something Tice was prohibited from having as a convicted felon. Tice waived his Miranda rights and claimed he bought the meth for $5,000 from someone in Flint, court documents state.
Police arrested Tice, who initially was charged in Isabella County District Court on one drug and four firearm charges. Prosecutors dismissed their case on March 12, the same day federal prosecutors filed a complaint against Tice, who lives in Harrison within Clare County.
Tice on March 12 appeared before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Patricia T. Morris, who informed him he had been charged with possession with intent to distribute meth, felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The charges are 20-, 15-, and five-year felonies, respectively.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Roy Kranz asked Morris to order Tice detained pending trial, saying he is a danger to potential witnesses. In making his argument, he recounted how Trice in September 2007 was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of meth.
According to court records, Tice around 1995 began acquiring hundreds of pounds of meth from California and used his fellow bikers to distribute it around Michigan, California, Illinois, and South Carolina. At the time, Tice was president of the Fly-In Wheels Motorcycle Club’s Harrison chapter and vice president of its national chapter.
In 2001, fellow Fly-In Wheels member Brian H. Langdon began providing info to investigators. Langdon was found dead, shot three times in his head, in his Flint house in March 2002. After Langdon’s homicide, another
confidential informant told investigators Tice and two other bikers, Donald N. York and James H. Laughton, had killed him.
“Tice recruited the other two to kill Langdon out of apparent concern that he would say more about the meth trafficking and out of retribution for Langdon giving a statement contrary to the biker code,” Kranz told Judge Morris.
Authorities arrested Tice after a multi-hour standoff during a July 2004 party at the Fly-In Wheels’ campground near Harrison, after another confidential informant indicated he feared he was about to be killed. Tice, York, and Laughton faced charges related to Langdon’s homicide, but those charges were dismissed when the trio pleaded to drug offenses. York and Laughton also received federal prison sentences.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons released Tice in 2017, though he went back in for a year after failing a drug test in 2020. He was discharged again in 2021.
Since his latest arrest, Tice has been busy on the jail’s phone, Kranz said.
“He’s trying desperately to figure out who the cooperator is, if there is one, in this case,” Kranz said. “That should cause the court some concern considering what happened in a previous case.”
Defense attorney John A. Tosto said Tice’s calls have been placed to his son and contained no threats. He added it’s natural for an incarcerated individual to be curious about the circumstances of their arrest.
Totso asked that Tice be freed on bond, adding he would follow any conditions and is anxious to resolve the case.
Magistrate Judge Morris opted to hold Tice without bond, saying it is noteworthy he was a major supplier in a prior case in which a witness wound up dead.
Tice is to appear for a preliminary examination on April 25.
© 2024 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us).
Comments