Spanaway biker indicted for trying to blow up rival gang’s bar
Jun 25, 2013, 11:55 AM | Updated: 1:16 pm
A Spanaway biker has been indicted on five federal counts for allegedly plotting to blow up a Spanaway bar that’s the hangout for a rival motorcycle club.
The indictment against Karl Twilleager, 66, was handed down by a federal grand jury last week, The Tacoma News Tribune reports.
Federal prosecutors allege Twilleager, believed to be the vice president of the local chapter of the Ghost Riders motorcycle club, planned to blow up Uncle Sam’s Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue, according to court records.
Twilleager, also known as King Karl, and other members of the gang came under investigation in late May after officials learned they had been talking about blowing up the club.
The Ghost Riders allegedly were angry with members of the rival Bandidos, who reportedly attacked members of the Ghost Riders at a charity event at the bar last June, according to documents.
One man was injured in a shooting during the incident.
Federal agents arrested Twilleager after raiding his Spanaway home and a separate rental unit. They found 2-1/4 sticks of explosives, four blasting caps, and dozens of guns.
Court records say the explosives allegedly were transported from the home of a Ghost Rider in the central Washington city of Moses Lake to Spanaway late last month.
Twilleager is charged with two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count each of being a felon in possession of ammunition, possession of an unregistered firearm and being a felon in possession of explosives.
He spent 12 years in prison for a 1993 murder in Grant County.
Twilleager is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.
