Florida Keys police arrest two Pagan’s motorcycle gang members in separate cases

Two people suspected of being members of a well-known motorcycle gang remain in Florida Keys jail following separate arrests late last week, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

Both arrests happened on Thursday, Feb. 9, and deputies say both people are members of the Pagan’s motorcycle gang, an outlaw motorcycle club that originated in the Mid-Atlantic in the ‘50s, but which began laying down roots in South Florida and the Keys in the 1990s.

The club spells its name as Pagan’s, with the apostrophe, instead of “Pagans.”

Monroe deputies have made several high-profile arrests of Pagan’s members over the past several years on drugs and weapons charges.

“Anyone who comes to the Florida Keys and commits crimes will be on my radar,” Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a statement Tuesday. “I am committed to the safety of this community.”

Nicole Marie Fortier, 45, from Springhill, Florida, was arrested after a traffic stop on U.S. 1 in the Middle Keys city of Marathon turned up a 9 millimeter handgun, .4 grams of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, according to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies pulled over the car because the driver was traveling 60 mph in a 35 mph zone and she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, sheriff’s office spokesman Adam Linhardt said.

“[The driver] admitted to speeding in order to keep up with a group of motorcyclists also affiliated with the Pagan’s,” he said.

The driver was cited for not wearing a seat belt and speeding. Fortier remains in county jail on a bond of $65,000, according to online inmate records.

The other person suspected of being a Pagan’s member is Brandon Orlando Ebbs, 43, from Bayville, New Jersey, according to the sheriff’s office. He too was pulled over in a traffic stop, this time on Big Pine Key in the Lower Keys.

He is in jail with no bond on a charge of violating his probation for a previous driving under the influence arrest, according to sheriff’s office records.