Rainier biker sentenced to life in prison for 2015 death

PORTLAND – A Rainier man and Portland motorcycle club member was sentenced to life in federal prison last week for the kidnap and torture of a former club member in what prosecutors called a revenge killing.

Chad Leroy Erickson, 51, and club President Mark Leroy Dencklau, 61, of Woodburn, Oregon, were sentenced to life in federal prison on April 14 in the U.S. District Court of Oregon in Portland.

Court officials report Erickson and Dencklau were members of the Gypsy Joker Outlaw Motorcycle Club, an organization with local roots since the 1980s where members maintain status by participating in crimes like murder, kidnapping and robbery.

The pair were convicted by a federal jury in November of murder in aid of racketeering; kidnapping in aid of racketeering, resulting in death; kidnapping resulting in death; and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, resulting in death. Dencklau was also found guilty of racketeering conspiracy.

Prosecutors say Dencklau asked club members to attack former member Robert Huggins in 2015, after he allegedly stole from the club and Dencklau.

Dencklau orchestrated the kidnapping of Huggins from his Portland home to a rural part of southwest Washington, where they fractured his skull and removed his nipples, officials report. Huggins’ death was caused by multiple blunt- and sharp-force injuries, according to a medical examiner.

Four other people involved in the case have pleaded guilty, court officials report.

Tiler Evan Pribbernow, 40, of Portland was sentenced to 140 months in federal prison. Earl Deverle Fisher, 48, of Gresham, Oregon; Ryan Anthony Negrinelli, 36, of Gresham; and Joseph Duane Folkerts, 61, of Battleground are awaiting sentencing.