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Pagans member sentenced in Charleroi assault

By Scott Beveridge for The 2 min read
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A member of the Pagans Motorcycle Club was sentenced Friday in Washington County Court after pleading no contest to one charge stemming from a brutal assault on a former member of the organization this year in Charleroi.

Washington County Judge John F. DiSalle sentenced Brian A. Keruskin to spend 2½ to 8 years in state prison after prosecutors selected to not prosecute him on a conspiracy to engage in a homicide in the assault in April in a Slovak Club, Keruskin’s attorney confirmed Monday.

“This involved no cooperation at all with authorities,” said Keruskin’s attorney, Michael J, Zagari in Pittsburgh.

His client pleaded no contest to a charge of conspiracy to engage in aggravated assault, online court records show.

Prosecutors have said Keruskin, 57, of Charleroi, encouraged an officer of the club to erase video surveillance that showed him letting seven Pagans into the bar at 700 McKean Ave. to assault Troy Harris. However, the video was in the hands of Charleroi Regional police before it could be erased.

The April 18 assault of Harris, 53, of Fallowfield Township, caused him to suffer a stroke and other injuries that left him with cognitive problems. A motive for the assault has not been revealed, but Harris had left the Pagans to join a rival gang.

In all a dozen people have been arrested in the case, many of whom face charges of attempted homicide.

Corey Adam Volk, 24, of West Newton was the first member of the Pagans to plead guilty in the case. Prosecutors withdrew an attempted homicide charge against Volk under the terms of his plea arrangement. DiSalle sentenced Volk last week to 7 to 14 years in prison for aggravated assault and conspiracy.

Keruskin has a federal record.

He was sentenced in October 2002 to 27 months in a federal prison after pleading guilty to one felony count of assault with a dangerous weapon, online court records show.

He was among 73 Pagans who carried out a surprise attack on a group of Hells Angels at a motorcycle and tattoo exposition in Long Island in February of that year. One member of the Pagans died in the attack.

Keruskin remained Monday in Washington County jail.

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