Four members of a motorcycle group were convicted on criminal charges after Coweta County authorities connected them to a gang, officials confirmed to Channel 2 Action News.
Lloyd Jefferson Harris will serve three years of a 20-year sentence in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of violation of the Georgia Street Gang and Terrorism Prevention Act, Assistant District Attorney Norris Lewis confirmed.
Three other men — Stephen Maxwell Kemp, Thomas Joseph Lewandowski and Ricky James Hartfree — were convicted for membership in the same gang. Kemp was sentenced to 12 months probation on an aggressive driving charge, while Lewandowski and Hartfree were each sentenced to six months probation, Lewis said.
Lewis said Harris is a member of the Iron Cross Motorcycle Club, a group that has been on the radar of law enforcement since 2014, AJC.com previously reported.
Authorities started investigating the group more heavily after bikers affiliated with the gang chased two teenage girls in November 2016.
The girls were driving on U.S. 29 when a biker lost control of his motorcycle and crashed, Lewis said. Other members of the gang blamed the teen driver for the crash and started chasing her. The gang members followed the girls into Newnan, and at one point during the pursuit Harris pointed a gun at the driver and passenger and shot at them, Lewis said.
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Coweta deputies intercepted the bikers near the intersection of Bullsboro Drive and Ga. 154, Lewis confirmed. A handgun was found at the scene.
The incident prompted authorities to search the gang’s headquarters in Newnan in March 2017, AJC.com reported. Lewis said the house was being run and managed under the name of a dead member of the Iron Cross gang and was acting as an illegal alcohol establishment. According to Lewis, investigators found membership documents connecting the biker group to a gang. Authorities also found more than 50 Christmas cards sent from gangs across the country that contained the names, pictures and addresses of its members.
Harris and the other bikers were taken into custody after the incident.
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