Suspected members of an entire chapter of the Hells Angels in Bakersfield, California, face a slew of charges, including kidnapping, robbery and criminal threats. One of the suspects, Joshua Vaughn, appears in court in the background photo. (Evidence photos from Kern County Sheriff’s Office; Courtroom screenshot from KGET/YouTube)
A whole chapter of the notorious Hells Angels in California has been arrested in a crackdown on the infamous outlaw biker gang.
Six members, including the president and vice president of a group based in Bakersfield, were nabbed following an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Kern County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol, authorities announced on Facebook. Bakersfield is more than 100 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.
They face a slew of charges, including kidnapping, robbery, criminal threats, false imprisonment, assault with a firearm, participation in a criminal street gang, criminal conspiracy, intimidating a witness or victim and elder abuse.
In the sting, six suspected members were arrested, while one had already been in custody. More than 150 law enforcement personnel seized 25 firearms, ammunition, multiple high-capacity magazines, and “gang-affiliate paraphernalia” at several locations in the area, authorities said.
NBC Bakersfield affiliate KGET reported from court on Thursday when a defense attorney entered not guilty pleas on the defendants’ behalf. The courtroom was a dramatic scene with a dozen deputies posted about the room, the station reported. Among the defendants were “active, patched members” of the Hells Angels and members of the Sons Of Hell Motorcycle Club, a “sub-affiliate” that takes orders and direction from the Hells Angels, authorities said.
The men were barred from harassing or contacting victims, the news station reported. They remained in custody at the Kern County Sheriff’s Office Lerdo Facility with bail set at $800,000. They were set to appear for a preliminary hearing on July 11.
Law&Crime reported on several recent cases involving the Hells Angels, including a suspected Hells Angels leader accused of cracking a Black man’s sternum with a knife, another one who organized toy runs for kids and also arranged illegal cremations to make bodies disappear, and two high-ranking members convicted in a murder conspiracy.
The U.S. Department of Justice calls the Hells Angels an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang whose members use their motorcycle clubs as conduits for criminal enterprises and engage in violent crime, weapons trafficking, and drug trafficking.
There are more than 300 such active gangs in the country. They can be as small as single chapters with five or six members to hundreds of chapters with thousands of members worldwide, authorities said.
The Hells Angels are among several such gangs that “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,” the DOJ said. Because of their transnational scope, these OMGs are able to coordinate drug smuggling operations in partnership with major international drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs).”
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