Hells Angels member sentenced for cremating body of murdered outlaw biker in Fresno

The former president of the Fresno Hells Angels chapter was sentenced Thursday in federal court for using the crematorium at a Fresno funeral home to dispose of the body of another Hells Angel, concealing a murder, at the outlaw bikers’ headquarters on South G Street in 2014.

Merl Hefferman, 54, was sentenced to four years in federal prison by Judge Edward Chen at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Hells Angel Joel Silva earned a death sentence from high-ranking members of the group when he reportedly threatened a member of an East Coast chapter at a biker event in New Hampshire earlier in 2014. Other Hells Angels were convicted of murder conspiracy charges in that case.

Silva’s body was cremated at the Yost and Webb Funeral Home in downtown Fresno after Hefferman became acquainted with a cremation manager at

the home.

Hefferman’s attorney James A. Bustamante had sought a 30-month prison term for his client, arguing that Hefferman had never before been convicted of a crime and that he grew up as a battered child in dysfunctional families.

Hefferman’s work as the face of a yearly biker holiday toy run that provided thousands of children with bicycles over more than a decade also prompted more than a dozen Fresnans to write letters to the court on his behalf asking for leniency.

Prosecutors, however, maintained that Hefferman was responsible for the disposal of the bodies of three other Hells Angels. For that, they argued that he deserved 87 months in prison. Hefferman, however, was never charged in connection with the disappearance of the other three.

The case was part of a much-larger racketeering and murder case against multiple member of Hells Angels, the reputed world’s largest outlaw biker gang.

This story was originally published October 19, 2023 at 4:41 PM.