7 IN PAGANS-AMISH DRUG RING ARE SENTENCED

Seven conspirators in a cocaine and methamphetamine ring that featured the
odd coupling of the Pagans motorcycle club and Lancaster County's Amish
community were sentenced yesterday.

U.S. District Judge Clarence C. Newcomer meted out sentences that ranged
from six months of home confinement to seven years in prison, with most of
those involved in the drug plot getting jail terms of four to five years.

Still to be sentenced are the two Amish men who sold cocaine to other Amish
youths at Lancaster County hoedowns. Abner Stoltzfus, 25, and Abner King
Stoltzfus, 24, both of Gap, Pa., and unrelated, are scheduled for sentencing
today.

The drug conspiracy's identified ringleader, Emory Edward Reed, 48, of
Millersville, Pa., is also awaiting sentencing. Special Assistant U.S.
Attorney Joseph Dominguez said Reed, who was a leader in the Pagans' Chester
County chapter, was cooperating in an ongoing investigation.

Ten people were indicted in June 1998 in the drug conspiracy that operated
in Chester and Lancaster Counties from 1992 to 1997, and all have pleaded
guilty in the last year.

Most of those sentenced yesterday were either Pagans members or Pagans
hang-arounds, people who associated with club members and were sometimes
considered for full membership.

The stiffest sentence of 84 months, nearly three years more than prosecutors
recommended, was handed to Lawrence Mellot, 34, of Frazer, who was part of a
group of four men who admitted distributing methamphetamine and/or cocaine
at bars in Chester County.

Prosecutors singled out Mellot, who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident, for
making terroristic threats to his estranged wife and riding a
Harley-Davidson with a suspended license while released on bail.

Dominguez said that Mellot had been taped telling his wife that she "better
get a gun." Mellot's attorney, David Huffman, argued that the allegations
concerning the threat had not been proven and should not have been a factor
in Newcomer's sentencing. Newcomer said that federal sentencing guidelines
for Mellot were in the 92- to 115-month range and that the 84-month sentence
required no explanation.

Members of the drug conspiracy who dealt primarily in bars were James Boyd,
34, of Downingtown, who was sentenced to 48 months in prison; Robert Reeder,
35, of Coatesville, who received 60 months; and Russell Samuels, 48, of Blue
Ball, Pa., who was sentenced to 48 months.

The government said that any credit Reeder could have been given for
cooperating with investigators was offset by the fact that he told Pagans
leader Reed about that cooperation, which hurt the progress of the
investigation.

Samuels pleaded with Newcomer for lenience, saying that he left the
conspiracy and had returned to his family in Lancaster County, and became a
born-again Christian even before learning he was under investigation.
Newcomer noted in his sentencing that every defendant was prosecuted for
illegal acts in the past, not what they had done since.

The lightest sentence, one day in jail and six months of monitored home
confinement, was given to Natalie King, 34, of Coatesville, who lived in a
house that Reed used to stash the drugs intended for distribution throughout
the network of Pagans and hang-arounds. King contended that she allowed Reed
to use her house out of fear.

Two Lancaster County Pagans members, Douglas Hersch, 30, of Ronks, and Duane
Blank, 30, of Gap, were part of the group that helped send drugs into the
Amish community. Hersch was sentenced to 63 months and Blank to 55 months.
Blank's attorney, Tom Carroll, said that Blank's size -- he now weighs 400
pounds -- could make serving jail time difficult for him.