New Albany business owner charged with conspiracy to commit murder after police raids

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A New Albany business owner was charged with conspiracy commit murder after a police raid Wednesday, the fourth person to be arrested in connection to a murder-for-hire plot earlier this year on Bank Street near Underground Station.

The New Albany Police Department, along with Indiana State Police, conducted search warrants at three New Albany locations Wednesday: the Cloverleaf Bar and Grill on Culbertson Avenue, the North Star Tattoo Company on Vincennes Street and a residential address.

According to court records, Henry Bachmann was arrested on a warrant for conspiracy to commit murder. Records show he's the owner of both businesses that were searched.

In a probable cause affidavit, police said the victim in the attempted murder May 13 on Bank Street told police he was a former member of an Outlaw motorcycle gang called Menace 13. He said there was only one person who would pay someone else to shoot him, a person police later identified as Bachmann.

A few weeks after the shooting, Aaron Brown was arrested and charged with the shooting. In his interview with police, Brown said he was hired by Joseph Flesia to murder the victim and his pregnant girlfriend because the victim was "patched out of the gang in bad standing."

According to a probable cause affidavit, police began searching Bachmann's cellphone records in June, during which police said they found incriminating call patterns, text messages, gang-related photos and indications of drug dealing. It was this evidence that led to the conspiracy to commit murder charge against Bachmann.

Brown, Flesia and another man, Cody Vest, were all arrested in May in connection to the plot. Flesia was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder and possession of cocaine. Brown was charged with criminal recklessness, possession of methamphetamine and more. Vest was charged with assisting a criminal and possession of methamphetamine.

In court Thursday, Bachmann pleaded not guilty, and a judge set a $750,000 bond. He's scheduled to be back in court Sept. 25.