PUBLIC SAFETY

Salem hairstylist sentenced to eight years for trafficking meth near South Salem High School

A Marion County Circuit Court judge has sentenced a Salem man to eight years in prison three months after a police search of his home turned up drugs and ballistic vests, including one stolen from a trooper’s state vehicle.

Wilson “Gene” Voorhis, 43, pleaded guilty on Friday, June 21, in Marion County Circuit Court to attempting to sell methamphetamine near a school, possessing body armor as a felon and unlawful possession of methamphetamine, according to court records.

Voorhis was also sentenced to three years of post-prison supervision. 

The arrest of Voorhis, a hair stylist by profession who had worked at a downtown Salem salon, came after neighbors suspected drug trafficking at a house on Southeast Rural Avenue. They reported concerns to police in February that a man living at the house was selling meth to students at South Salem High School across the street, according to police affidavits used to search the house.

Neighbors said after the search that police had told them the home was a clubhouse for the Gypsy Jokers, which federal prosecutors have described as a violent outlaw motorcycle gang.

Salem police on March 12 surrounded the house and for 45 minutes hailed Voorhis to come out.  After police breached a window, he emerged and was arrested. 

A minor was present during the standoff with police, according to an indictment.

Police then searched his house and detached garage. The items they seized included an Oregon State Police ballistic vest with a cloth police badge, stolen from a trooper’s state vehicle in Salem last October.

“We located a false wall behind a built-in shelf in the living room,” according to an affidavit of Det. Andrew Parsons of the Salem Police Department. He is assigned to the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force working in the Salem area.

“Detectives removed the false wall and located a digital safe. Inside the false wall detectives located a digital scale, packaging material, large food saver bag with methamphetamine residue, and ammunition,” the affidavit said.

Investigators found meth, fentanyl and heroin in the home. They also seized a Taser, tools and street signs, all of which were stolen, Salem police said at the time.

Voorhis has arrests dating back 20 years, including convictions in 2006, 2009 and 2017 for being a felon in possession of a weapon.

Police had searched the Rural Avenue house in August 2022 in an earlier investigation. They found meth, cocaine and five guns, according to a police affidavit.

In a plea agreement in June 2023, Voorhis admitted having a gun, resulting in yet another conviction for illegally possessing a weapon. He also admitted threatening a woman with a crowbar and attempting to sell methamphetamine in the area of the school.

He agreed then that if he committed any other crime, he would be imprisoned for eight years for those past charges.

As part of a plea agreement after the March 2024 case, he agreed to serve prison time simultaneously for both the recent and past charges.

RELATED COVERAGE:

Search of hairstylist’s home in drug case finds false wall, stolen tools, police vests

Man charged with trafficking meth near South Salem High School after house raided

Police raid home near South Salem High School with ties to motorcycle gang

Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.

A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE.

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.