VENTURA, CA - District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that Thomas Heath (DOB: 4/1/1947), of Ventura, was sentenced by Ventura County Superior Court Judge David Hirsch to 35 years to life in prison for dissuading a witness from reporting a crime, threatening a witness for giving information to law enforcement, promoting the felonious criminal conduct of the Hells Angels, and doing all of the above after having been convicted of four prior strike offenses.

Heath’s first two strike offenses occurred in 1977 when Heath, then a prospective member of the Los Angeles chapter of the Hells Angels, walked into the motorcycle shop of a rival Mongols gang member and delivered a bomb hidden in a motorcycle tire. The bomb later detonated, killing a 15-year-old boy and a 22-year-old man. Heath thereafter became a member of the Hells Angels and formed the Ventura chapter with George Christie. The murder case went unsolved for over a decade. Heath’s third and fourth strike offenses occurred in 1992 and Heath was convicted in Ventura County Superior Court of various felony crimes related to the brutal beating of his wife. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for those crimes. In 1994, Heath pled guilty to two counts of second degree murder for the 1977 murders and was sentenced to prison for seven years.

On November 22, 2010, Heath was living in the city of Ventura with a female roommate. When the woman told him he needed to move out for not paying rent, he refused. When she told him she had called the police and that they were on their way to the residence, Heath threatened to kill the woman and her son. He then told her he was going to tell his fellow Hells Angels gang members that she was a “rat” for calling the police. Officers with the Ventura Police Department arrived at the residence and as the woman began to tell one officer about the threats, Heath interrupted her and threatened her again in the presence of the officer. Later, when questioned by the officers about the threats, Heath told the officers that he has killed people before and that when he wants to kill someone, he doesn’t threaten them, he just kills them.

On December 16, 2011, a jury found Heath guilty of dissuading a witness, threatening a witness and street terrorism. Heath was also convicted of having committed four prior strike offenses.