Federal and local law enforcement agencies rounded up twenty-five individuals on three indictments for federal gun and drug charges Tuesday in St. Louis and St. Francois County. Many of the accused are members of the Saddle Tramp Motorcycle Club, including the club’s president.
Rich Callahan, the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Missouri, said the arrests were the culmination of two investigations that began in 2010 - one involving a cocaine distribution network and the other focusing on meth cooking and distribution.
“These were middlemen and retailers, but the drug distribution network was really the St. Louis metropolitan area and because of the motorcycle gang’s clubhouse in St. Francois County, there was some in St. Francois County,” Callahan said.
Among those facing drug and weapons charges are Melvin Scherrer of Bonne Terre and Brent Bouren of St. Louis. They are already facing murder charges in connection to the death of Cape Girardeau tattoo artist Samuel Francis.
“These other arrests, they’ve been a long time coming. It was focusing on drug distribution, and the murder was picked up in the course of investigating the drug operations,” said Callahan.
According to a police probable cause statement, Francis feared for his life because he had angered some members of a motorcycle gang before he was killed. His body was found in a septic tank in rural St. Francois County in July.
