CHRISTIANSBURG -- Charges against two men accused of beating a man at a motorcycle club's party last month in Montgomery County have been certified to a grand jury.

Robert Henry Fuller and Jerry Jonathan Beck, both of Blacksburg, were charged the morning of June 6 with malicious wounding, a felony. Fuller also was charged with two misdemeanor counts of carrying a concealed weapon.

The incident happened late June 5 in a field off Lovely Mount Drive, near the Radford line, where the New River Valley branch of the Ching-a-lings Motorcycle Club was holding an open party after its second annual Virginia River Run motorcycle ride.

At a preliminary hearing Friday in Montgomery County General District Court, Montgomery County Lt. Brad St. Clair testified that as he drove by the property while on patrol about 11:30 p.m., someone flagged him down with a flashlight.

He met Beck and Thomas John Teany, who told him that Dennis Roop had pulled a knife on someone at the party, St. Clair testified. Beck said he wanted Roop, who was with them and bloodied, removed from the property, St. Clair testified.

Roop was taken to Carilion New River Valley Medical Center. He testified Friday that a doctor told him he would have to wait more than two hours before being treated, so he left the hospital. He said he taped up the wounds on his face at home.

Roop seemed reluctant to testify and left the courthouse after taking the witness stand, without waiting to see the outcome.

He testified that he went to a party, "which I had no business going to anyway."

Asked by Assistant Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Patrick Jensen what happened at the party, Roop said, "I got hit, went to the ground, and that's it." He said he didn't remember anything else and didn't know who hit him.

He denied pulling a knife on anyone but said he did show someone his fixed-blade, Hen & Rooster knife with a blade about 4 ¹₂ inches long, then returned it to its sheath. He said he carries the knife on his belt everywhere he goes.

Montgomery County Investigator Ed Hertling testified that Fuller admitted to hitting Roop. He said Fuller told him that when Roop pulled the knife, he punched him. Roop fell to the ground, where Fuller punched him a couple more times, Hertling said.

When 13 deputies went to the property with a search warrant after 4 a.m., they seized Beck's boots, which deputies said appeared to have blood on them.

Hertling said Beck told him the blood could have gotten there when he walked down the hill to meet St. Clair after Roop was escorted by several people off the property.

Despite requests by defense attorneys Wade McNichols and Joe Painter to strike or reduce the malicious wounding charges, District Court Judge Randal Duncan certified them to a grand jury, which will decide whether the men should face a trial in circuit court.

One of the concealed weapons charges against Fuller was dismissed Friday. He was found guilty of the other for having a 12-gauge shotgun in a partially unzipped tent bag leaned against the inside entrance of his tent near the entrance to the property.

On that conviction, Fuller was ordered to pay a $250 fine and received a jail sentence of 30 days, all suspended. However, he and Beck remain incarcerated in the Montgomery County Jail.