Iron Range Hells Angels Members’ Kidnapping Charges Dismissed by Prosecutor

EVELETH, Minn. –The St. Louis County prosecutor dismisses charges against four Hells Angels members accused of kidnapping and assault in 2023.

Four members of the Iron Range Hells Angels had their charges dismissed on Wednesday. Jerand Paul French, Eric Anthony Newman, Paul Anthony Debelak, and Jake Douglas Novaczyk were cleared of charges for a kidnapping and sexual assault that allegedly occurred at their Eveleth clubhouse in late November of 2023.

The prosecution, led by St. Louis County Attorney Christopher Florey, filed the dismissals stating that “the victims are either unwilling or unable to testify at trial and the State cannot prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt without testimony from the victims.”

Florey dismissed cases “pursuant to Rule 30.01” of Minnesota Criminal Procedure, which allows prosecutors to “dismiss a complaint or tab charge without the court’s approval.” The cases could, however, be retried in the future as they were dismissed ‘without prejudice.’ The four cases were originally scheduled for a jury trial in August.

Previous ‘motions for dismissal’ were filed by the defense in the fall of 2024 but were denied in court. Filings by the attorneys alleged that Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) agents had intercepted and read text messages from a jail phone between Novaczyk and his lawyer. The defense argued that the breach and information in the texts amounted “to a severe violation of the (Novaczyk)’s attorney-client privilege and Sixth Amendment right to counsel.”

The court disagreed, and in an order denying the motion, Judge Robert Friday wrote that the defense “failed to prove that the alleged intrusion on privileged attorney-client communication involved legal advice, and the communication was intended to be confidential.”