Police: Entire chapter of Hells Angels arrested in California

The entire chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club from Bakersfield, California, was arrested in an investigation into kidnapping, robbery and assault, authorities said Tuesday.

Among those arrested were five active members of the club’s Bakersfield chapter and two other members of Sons of Hell, a motorcycle club affiliated with the Bakersfield chapter of the Hells Angels, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Law enforcement seized 25 firearms, an unspecified amount of ammunition and gang regalia, according to the statement released jointly with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The arrests were made Tuesday morning and were the result of a joint investigation by the ATF, the sheriff’s office and the California Highway Patrol. The investigation is ongoing, authorities said.

One of the seven suspects, 37-year-old John Vaughn, is already in custody on “other charges,” the statement said. All of the suspects so far are said to be from Bakersfield.

The other arrested are Ricardo Alvarez, 42; Armando Villasenor, 55; Joseph Soto Sr., 57; Joseph Soto Jr., 33; Joshua Zavala, 31; and John Seeger, 57.

Vaughn and Seeger are members of the Sons of Hell, the statement said, while the rest are said to belong to the Bakersfield chapter of the Hells Angels.

No official charges have been filed against the suspects.

The charges that led to the arrests include kidnapping, robbery, criminal threats, false imprisonment, assault with a firearm, membership in a criminal street gang, criminal conspiracy, intimidation of a witness or victim and elder abuse, law enforcement said in the statement.

It was not clear if the investigation was based on a single incident or a series of alleged crimes. Kern County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Lori Meza said details could not be released because the investigation is ongoing.

It is not clear whether the suspects have hired an attorney. The Kern County Public Defender’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Department of Justice describes the Hells Angels, founded in Fontana, California in the years after World War II, as an outlaw motorcycle gang and criminal organization.

Its checkered history includes its members’ attacks on concertgoers at Altamont Stadium in 1969, the club’s love-hate relationship with the late author Hunter S. Thompson, and the deadly confrontation with members of the rival Mongols in 2002 in Laughlin, Nevada.

Federal authorities claim the gang has long been involved in drug and arms trafficking.