In a dramatic turn of events during the ongoing Aryan Brotherhood racketeering case, defense attorney Knut Johnson has raised serious doubts about the credibility of DEA special agent Brian Nehring’s testimony. Johnson alleges that Nehring may have lied under oath to conceal his consumption of two donuts in 2019, potentially undermining the agent’s reliability as a witness.
The defense attorney’s motion to bring Nehring back on the witness stand was granted by Chief U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller, highlighting the significance of this issue. Johnson argues that Nehring’s inconsistency raises concerns about the reliability of his testimony, the overall quality of the police investigation, and the unprofessional approach of the case agent.
The case revolves around William Sylvester, one of three Aryan Brotherhood members facing racketeering charges. Sylvester is accused of brutally attacking inmate Ronald Richardson, an act caught on camera. Prosecutors claim that Sylvester carried out the assault as per the gang’s orders to target skinhead gang members. However, the defense argues that Richardson was a “known child molester” and not welcome in the exercise yard.
To establish a racketeering murder charge, prosecutors must prove a gang motive for the Richardson killing. Additionally, Sylvester is implicated in assisting co-defendant Ronald Dean Yandell in directing heroin sales both inside and outside of prison.
The donut incident is intertwined with the federal government’s extensive efforts to dismantle the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. Nehring’s investigation into alleged heroin dealers associated with the Contra-Costa Family Affiliated Irish Mafia led him to discover a connection between one suspect and an Aryan Brotherhood commissioner named Jeanna Quesenberry. Wiretaps revealed that Quesenberry was involved in smuggling drugs into prison and selling them outside, sometimes with the assistance of an Orange County-based skinhead gang.
During Nehring’s testimony before a grand jury in 2019, he described receiving a box of donuts from Quesenberry, unaware that heroin was concealed beneath a false bottom. Nehring’s colleagues jokingly suggested that he had consumed heroin, but he claimed that he believed the drugs did not come into contact with the donuts. The agent’s fondness for the pastries was evident as he remarked, “They were good donuts.”
