Entire Bakersfield Hells Angels Chapter Arrested

Biker gangs may be a mainstay in popular media where cool, tough dudes ride sweet, but in real life, they’re not actually all that cool. In reality, gangs such as the Hells Angels are known criminal organizations and have been involved in so much illegal activity, there’s a Wikipedia page dedicated purely to all the crimes the Hells Angels have been accused of in California. That list may need to be updated, though, because the Guardian reports the entire Bakersfield Hells Angels chapter was just arrested and charged with a litany of crimes.

If you were expecting to read about some 30 or 40 men being rounded up, though, we have some disappointing news. The entire chapter appears to be entirely composed of just seven members. Since one member, Joshua Vaughn, was already in jail when the cops showed up, that meant the Kern County Sheriff’s Department took down just six men: Ricardo Alvarez, Armando Villasenor, Joseph Soto Sr, Joseph Soto Jr, Joshua Zavala, and John Seeger.

These arrests weren’t for unpaid speeding tickets or refusing to wear their helmets, either. The list of charges the group faces includes “kidnapping, first-degree robbery, criminal threats, false imprisonment, assault with a firearm, participation in a criminal street gang, criminal conspiracy and intimidating a witness or victim, as well as elder abuse.” Deputies also seized about 25 guns, ammo and a number of magazines while executing eight search warrants across Bakersfield.

It’s unclear how much time they’re facing, but something tells us they won’t be getting out for quite a while. Especially if any of them have previous felonies on their records. Now if we could just get California to show a similar level of concern about the number of alleged gangs inside the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.