Two Sonoma County Hells Angels members sentenced to federal prison for home invasion robbery, extortion plot

SAN FRANCISCO — Two Hells Angels members have been sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to involvement in a criminal enterprise, the first prison terms handed down since a dozen members of the motorcycle club were indicted in 2017.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen handed down federal prison sentences of 52 months to Damien Cesena and 30 months to David Salvatore Diaz III. Cesena and Diaz are among five Hells Angels members to plead guilty to federal offenses after three of their co-defendants were convicted of murder last November.

As part of a plea agreement where federal prosecutors pledged not to seek more than a five-year sentence, Cesena admitted to participating in the home invasion robbery of a marijuana grower in Sonoma County, allegedly along with fellow club member Jeremy Greer. The robbery was captured on a home video system, which another Hells Angels member bought from the victim, authorities said in court records.

Diaz’s conviction was less serious; he admitted to taking property back from a Hells Angels member who was being kicked out of the club. According to the plea agreement, Diaz drove to the victim’s home and took back various items with the Hells Angels insignia. Meanwhile, the man was being beaten for several hours at the Hells Angels Sonoma clubhouse. Diaz did not participate in the beating.

At a 2022 trial where Jonathan Nelson, Rusty Ott, and Brian Wendt were convicted of murdering a Sonoma Hells Angel named Joel Silva, the beating victim testified that he was assaulted for having an affair with the wife of Raymond Foakes, a longtime club member with a lengthy criminal history.

Three others — Greer, Russell Allen Lyles, and Merl Hefferman — have also taken plea deals and are set to be sentenced in April. Prosecutors charged Hefferman with facilitating the disposal of Silva’s body, who witnesses testified was illegally cremated at a funeral home in Fresno.

The remaining defendants are scheduled to go to trial in March, records show. Once that trial is over, it will mark the end of a case that was six years in the making; federal prosecutors secured the indictment in 2017. One of the defendants died months later. None of the remaining were willing to accept plea deals until after Nelson, Ott, and Wendt were convicted.

In an unrelated case across the Bay Area, three Vallejo Hells Angels have pleaded guilty to possessing illegal guns, silencers, and other weaponry, including a billy club with the club’s dead head insignia. A fourth was indicted last week for allegedly aiding in an assault of a member of another local motorcycle club.

Nelson, Ott, and Wendt are still awaiting sentencing, while their attorneys attempt to persuade Chen to overturn the murder convictions, records show.