Four Hoover Criminal Gang Members Indicted for Murder in Aid of Racketeering

PORTLAND, Ore.—A federal grand jury in Portland has returned an indictment charging four Hoover Criminal Gang members for their roles in murdering a Portland man in December 2020.

Taezhon Tyreik Kelly, 23, Anthony Devion Bagsby, 32, and Delane William Roy, 25, all of Portland, and Cocoa Dalonta Taplin, 28, of Fairview, Oregon, have been charged with murder in aid of racketeering, using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence, and causing death through the use of a firearm.

The indictment alleges that on December 11, 2020, Kelly, Bagsby, Taplin, and Roy intentionally murdered D.M., a Portland man, for the purpose of maintaining and increasing their position in the Hoover Criminal Gang, a criminal enterprise engaged in racketeering in California, Oregon, Washington, and elsewhere.

Bagsby and Taplin were arrested today in Portland by the FBI, Portland Police Bureau (PPB), and Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO). Both made their first appearances in federal court and were ordered detained pending a six-week jury trial scheduled to begin on April 30, 2024. Kelly was arrested Tuesday in Halton City, Texas and made his first appearance today in the Northern District of Texas. Roy was arrested today in Kaplan, Louisiana and made his first appearance in the Western District of Louisiana. Both were detained pending their transfer to the District of Oregon.

According to the indictment, the Hoovers are a criminal street gang operating in Oregon known to engage in acts of violence including murder, assault, robbery, sex trafficking, and the distribution of illegal narcotics. The Hoovers originated in Los Angeles in the late 1960s and established a presence in Portland in the early 1980s. The gang has a loose hierarchical structure in which members have different amounts of power and influence based on age and gang activity. To maintain status and increase one’s position in the gang, members are expected to carry out violence on behalf of the enterprise.

This case was investigated by the FBI, PPB, MCSO, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Gresham Police Department, and is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.

An indictment is only an accusation of a crime, and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

This prosecution is the result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the U.S. by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.