Police early Tuesday morning descended on a south Salem home neighbors said is affiliated with the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club, arresting a Salem man and seizing ballistic vests and drugs.
At around 5 a.m., officers from the Salem Police Department searched a house in the 700 block of Southeast Rural Avenue, across the street from a student parking lot at South Salem High School.
Police arrested Wilson E. Voorhis, 43, of Salem on charges including possessing a taser as a felon, three counts of possessing body armor as a felon and first-degree theft.
Voorhis will also be charged with possessing methamphetamine, fentanyl and heroin which police found at the home, according to Salem police spokeswoman Angela Hedrick.
Police also appeared to be seizing a number of vehicles parked along Rural Avenue and neighboring streets.
Voorhis was booked into Marion County Jail, where he was being held without bail as of Tuesday evening.
He has criminal convictions in Marion County dating back to 2003 including second-degree burglary, unauthorized use of a vehicle and fleeing police.
Voorhis pleaded guilty in June 2023 to unlawful use of a weapon, coercion, possessing a firearm as a felon and attempting to sell methamphetamine near a school.
He was sentenced to 25 days in prison with credit for time served and three years of probation.
Voorhis agreed to serve eight years in prison if he violated the conditions of his probation, which included “zero tolerance for new crimes,” according to records in Marion County Circuit Court.
Court records show he lived as of 2022 at the house where he was arrested.
Hedrick said she had no information linking Voorhis to the Gypsy Jokers Motorcycle Club.
But neighbors described the home as being a clubhouse for the Gypsy Jokers, which federal prosecutors have described as a violent outlaw motorcycle gang.
The club is a hierarchical criminal organization in which members maintain their status by participating in “various acts of violent racketeering activity including murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion, narcotics trafficking, and witness tampering,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a 2022 news release.
The Gypsy Jokers have been active since the 1980s in several states including Oregon and Washington and have international chapters in Germany, Australia and Norway. They operated six clubhouses in the Pacific Northwest “until recently,” federal prosecutors said in the 2022 statement.
CORRECTION: Voorhis is 43 years old. His age as provided by Salem police earlier was incorrect.
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered criminal justice and housing for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
