All seven members of the Bakersfield, California, chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club are being detained and charged with numerous felonies, including kidnapping and illegal imprisonment, robbery, assault with a firearm, making criminal threats, intimidation, and elder abuse, officials said.
Six club members were arrested in an early morning sweep on June 25, officials said, including the chapter’s president and vice president.
A seventh gang member, 37-year–old Joshua Vaughn, was already in custody on 13 similarly violent charges, with the addition of cruelty to a dependent adult with potentially great bodily injury or death as a result, according to police documents.
Police have yet to release further details on the crimes that led to the charges.
Kern County Sheriff’s Office has released the gang members’ names and ages. They are: Ricardo Alvarez, 42; Armando Villasenor, 55; Joseph Soto Sr., 57; Joseph Soto Jr., 33; Joshua Zavala, 31; and John Seeger, 57.
Five are active, “patched” members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, while Mr. Vaughn and Mr. Seeger are members of a sub-affiliate biker club called the Sons Of Hell, which takes orders and direction from the Hells Angels, according to the sheriff’s office.
All those arrested are residents of Bakersfield, and are currently being held at the Kern County Sheriff’s Office Lerdo facility, police said.
More than 150 law enforcement personnel were involved in the operation, which involved eight search warrants for various locations throughout the city.
In total, police seized approximately 25 firearms, ammunition, multiple high-capacity magazines, as well as gang-affiliated paraphernalia, such as posters, vests, and emblems.
“This investigation is ongoing, and charges are being referred to the Kern County District Attorney’s Office,” the sheriff’s office said.
NTD reached out to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office for further information, but did not receive a reply before publication time.
Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs
The Hells Angels are known for their association with crime and occasional violent clashes with rival biker gangs, such as the Mongols, the Outlaws, and others.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Hells Angels are one of more than 300 outlaw motorcycle gangs operating both in the United States and transnationally.
“Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs) are organizations whose members use their motorcycle clubs as conduits for criminal enterprises,” the DOJ states. “OMGs are highly structured criminal organizations whose members engage in criminal activities such as violent crime, weapons trafficking, and drug trafficking.”
The DOJ said the Hells Angels, along with several other motorcycle gangs, “pose a serious national domestic threat and conduct the majority of criminal activity linked to OMGs, especially activity relating to drug-trafficking and, more specifically, to cross-border drug smuggling.”
A study published by the DOJ states that “research data show that the Hells Angels are involved in murder; the manufacturing and distribution of methamphetamine; the distribution of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana; the purchase and sale of firearms; and other criminal activities.”
