Federal brokers arrested six members of the Hells Angels bike membership on suspicion of kidnapping, first-degree theft, making prison threats and different expenses in an early-morning raid in Kern County on Tuesday.
The arrests account for the complete Bakersfield chapter of the Hells Angels, together with its president and vp, in line with authorities.
The six males arrested — all residents of Bakersfield — are additionally accused of false imprisonment, assault with a firearm, taking part in a prison avenue gang, prison conspiracy, intimidating a witness or sufferer and elder abuse, in line with authorities. Authorities additionally seized about 25 weapons, ammunition, high-capacity magazines and paraphernalia for the bike gang.
The arrests are a part of an ongoing investigation, authorities introduced in an announcement, and had been a part of a joint operation between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Kern County Sheriff’s Workplace and the California Freeway Patrol.
Ricardo Alvarez, 42; Armando Villasenor, 55; Joseph Soto Sr., 57; Joseph Soto Jr., 33; Joshua Zavala, 31, and John Seeger, 57, had been arrested as a part of the operation. A seventh suspect, 37-year-old Joshua Vaughn, was already in custody on a separate matter, authorities stated.
Alvarez, Villasenor, Soto Sr., Zavala and Soto Jr. are all lively members of the Bakersfield chapter of the Hells Angels, authorities stated. Vaughn and Seeger are members of an affiliate, the Sons of Hell Bike Membership, which takes its orders from the Hells Angels, in line with authorities.
The lads arrested on Tuesday had been booked right into a Kern County jail, and the case was referred to the Kern County district legal professional’s workplace. An ATF spokesperson declined to offer any extra info due to the lively investigation.
A California decide earlier this month sentenced three Hells Angels members to life in jail for homicide in assist of racketeering. Jonathan Nelson, Brian Wayne Wendt and Russell Taylor Ott had been convicted in June 2022 for his or her roles within the homicide of Hells Angels member Joel Silva in July 2014, in line with courtroom information.
Nelson, 46; and Ott, 70, had been members of the Sonoma County chapter of the Hells Angels, whereas Wendt, 45, was president of the Fresno chapter, federal prosecutors stated in an announcement.
Nelson, authorities say, organized for Ott to take Silva to the Hells Angels clubhouse in Fresno. When the boys arrived, Wendt shot Silva behind the top.
Authorities in Stanislaus County additionally arrested 4 males in February and seized medicine, a stockpile of firearms and ammunition and materials to make bombs as a part of an investigation into outlaw bike golf equipment within the area.
That probe started final yr following acts of violence stemming from a dispute between rival Hells Angels, Salida Nomads and Mongol members, in line with the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Division.
