New case brought against outlaw motorcycle club member

Prosecutors last month brought additional felony charges against the man authorities deemed the local leader of the Pagans, an outlaw motorcycle club linked to February’s brawl at Majestic Valley Arena.

Michael Allan Murphy, 49, faces two new counts of issuing a bad check in Flathead County District Court. He is scheduled to appear before Judge Danni Coffman on April 13 for his arraignment on the charges.

Murphy already pleaded not guilty to one felony count of issuing a bad check in a separate case on March 9.

In documents filed in district court on March 24, prosecutors alleged that Murphy passed along a $1,150 check to an area event production firm to sponsor a fighter and purchase ringside tables. The firm’s bank refused to honor the check, recording it as a “chargeback/return deposit item,” court documents said.

When company representatives approached Murphy, the 49-year-old allegedly cut another check — this time including an extra $300 to cover a second table at the event.

The firm’s bank refused that check, for $1,450 total, as well, court documents said.

Both cases were brought against Murphy after authorities arrested him on a parole violation at a home near Empire Loop in Kalispell on Feb. 28. In a March 3 press release announcing the arrest, Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino wrote that deputies joined Kalispell Police officers and probation and parole officers in taking him into custody.

In that same release, Heino identified Murphy as the president of the Flathead Valley chapter of the Pagans, a group long designated an outlaw motorcycle gang by law enforcement, including federal authorities. Another man picked up in the sweep, Kyle Martin Johnson, was listed as the chapter’s vice president.

In a subsequent interview, Heino said authorities learned of Murphy’s status in the motorcycle club during their investigation.

It’s a title that Murphy disputes. Calling the Inter Lake from county jail last month, he said membership in the valley is too low to constitute a chapter. He acknowledged his affiliation with the club, but said the Pagans, likely owing to the organization’s history, are inaccurately portrayed as “bad asses.”

“A lot of things you hear about the Pagans is from the old days,” Murphy said. “There are bad apples in every group.”

Murphy has also acknowledged his lengthy criminal history, which includes sentences for theft, burglary, forgery, deceptive practices and bail jumping, but said he had changed. He said he spent the last few years as a law abiding man.

“I’m done with it,” he said during the March phone call. “I’m done with that part of my life.”

Investigators, though, quickly linked the Pagans and another club, the Warlords, to a massive brawl at the Majestic Valley Arena during a Feb. 11 boxing event. The melee, involving as many as 50 people, left two injured.

Authorities later brought one woman — Brandi Laree Partney of Walla Walla, Washington — up on felony charges stemming from the brawl. She pleaded not guilty to assault with a weapon and tampering with or fabricating evidence at her Feb. 23 arraignment in district court.

Murphy said he helped sponsor the event. Although not there when it began, he said the fight broke out when a patron refused to stop touching motorcycles at the boxing match. He said he arrived in the middle of the brawl and departed upon seeing the fracas.

Issuing a bad check carries a maximum sentence of three years in Montana State Prison and a $1,500 fine for a first offense. That penalty rises to five years behind bars and a $1,500 fine upon a second offense. A third offense is punishable by between two and five years in prison, and a $5,000 fine.

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.