Guilty: Cop pulled gun on Hells Angels members

Willoughby, Ohio (January 7, 2019) BTN — A judge is expected to sentence a fired Euclid police officer Thursday after he pleaded guilty to pulling a gun on suspected member of the Hells Angels motorcycle club during a bar brawl. Todd Gauntner, a 32-year-old who was fired after the Aug. 24 fight, pleaded guilty Nov. 29 in Willoughby Municipal Court to using weapons while intoxicated, a first-degree misdemeanor.

He could be sentenced anywhere from a fine to 180 days in jail. Willoughby Municipal Court Judge Marisa Cornachio ordered that Gauntner is not allowed to own a gun and set his sentencing hearing for Thursday. Gauntner started an argument with two suspected members of the motorcycle club — Dustin Wolf, 28, and Brandley Peterson, 40— at Frank and Tony’s Place bar on 2nd Street in Willoughby, according to police reports. Gauntner pulled out a gun and put it to one of the men’s head, according to police.

Related | Cop fired that placed gun to a HAMC member's head
Related | Cop on leave for starting bar brawl with Hells Angels

A witness told police the trio fought behind the bar and broke several bottles, according to police. Bar employees tried to break up the fight before police arrived. Euclid Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer Gail fired Gauntner on Sept. 17.

Gail wrote in a letter sent to Gauntner notifying him of his firing that that he had the choice to “remove himself from the situation but failed to do so.” “You put yourself and many bar patrons at a significant risk of substantial harm due to your reckless behavior." Wolf and Peterson both pleaded guilty to aggravated disorderly conduct and were fined $200. Their 30-day jail sentences were suspended.

Gauntner was a four-year veteran of the Euclid Police Department once honored for saving the life of a man shot 16 times. He is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan. Gauntner previously was convicted of a crime involving a gun in 2015. He pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm in an incident that happened Thanksgiving at Sims Park in Euclid.

In that case, he told investigators he was dealing with the death of a family member the park and fired shots from two guns into Lake Erie. A Euclid Municipal Court judge ordered him to pay a $235 fine and to attend counseling in that incident. Euclid police suspended him for 90 days.

SOURCE: Cleveland.com

Hells Angels MC in court for preservation of life

Amsterdam (January 6, 2019) BTN — On May 29,  it will be clear whether the motorcycle club Hells Angels will be banned. Then the Utrecht District Court will rule on the civil law case filed by the Public Prosecution Service.

The banning of the Angels, who established themselves as the first outlaw motorcycle club in the Netherlands in 1978, is a long cherished wish of justice. In the mid-nineties, reports were already received from members who were engaged in internationally organized crime, including drug trafficking.

When hundreds of members accompanied the funeral procession of Hells Angel member Sam Klepper in 2000, this led to irritation among the police and judiciary. They saw it as a public glorification of crime.

In 2004, for the first time among politicians, there were noises for a ban on the Hells Angels. That year the bodies of three members were riddled with bullets found in a Limburg stream. A few months later Hells Angels founder Willem van Boxtel ('Big Willem') was honorably discharged after he was arrested on suspicion of preparing an attack on Willem Holleeder.

An attempt by the judiciary in 2006 to ban the Dutch departments of the Hells Angels stranded three years later with the Supreme Court. The latter judged that individual members were guilty of 'socially undesirable behavior', but that it could not be sufficiently demonstrated that the motor club as an association was criminal.

Justice is turning its backs this time at the foreign corporation Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and the Dutch subdivision Hells Angels Motorcycle Club Holland. According to justice, these constitute a danger to public order. A file of hundreds of pages, in which the suspected criminal activities of the club and its members are described, must provide evidence for this.

The civil procedure, which will be dealt with in March, is separate from the criminal case that last year was conducted against three members of the Haarlem branch. In July they were found guilty of, among other things, violence, extortion, threats and possession of weapons and were punished with sentences of 5 to 9 years.

The court prefers not to violate the basic right of association, but previous civil proceedings against the Bandidos and Satudarah led to a victory for justice. Satudarah was banned last year, the Bandidos at the end of 2017 - the ban continued on appeal. This means that members of both clubs may no longer be active in any way. Ex-members can no longer wear their vests in public and the creation of a new club under the same name is not possible.

SOURCE: de Volkskrant

Bandidos MC collects food for Food Bank

Marysville, WA (January 2, 2019) BTN — The North County Chapter of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club helped to collect more than 3,700 pounds of food for the Marysville Community Food Bank this December.

The club’s food drive was held on Dec. 15 in Marysville at the Lucky 13 Saloon and helped to bring in a total of around 3,760 pounds of food in addition to $1,461 raised from items auctioned at their event.

This was the first time that the local club has decided to put on a holiday food drive and Bandido Milkman Josh Leathers, a member of the club and one of the main organizers of the event, was happy with how it went. “Overall I believe that the food drive was a success,” he said.

From left, Bandido Roadman Will Holloway, Marysville food bank CPA Robyn Warren, food bank director Dell Deierling and Bandido Milkman Josh Leathers.

The club had decided they wanted to help locals this holiday season and decided to try a food drive. “We wanted to give back to the community so we chose to give to the local food bank,” said Leathers. “They do a lot of good work for the less fortunate in the community,” he said.

The collected food helps the Marysville Community Food Bank provide their Christmas baskets to local individuals and families in need. The food bank typically serves more than 500 families during their Christmas basket giveaways each year.

Food drives during the holidays also help stock the food bank going into next year as well, said Dell Deierling, director of the Marysville Community Food Bank.

Donations, such as from the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, help the food bank continue serving into the new year and typically keep the shelves stocked for months to come.

“The Marysville Community Food Bank provides groceries to about 300 families on an average week,” said Deierling. “Nearly one person in 10 in Marysville/Tulalip/Lakewood utilizes the food bank at least once during the course of the year,” he said.

From left, Casper James Jennings, Bandido Probationary Roach Scott Caudel and Bandido Probationary Wizard Tol McAleese.

Leathers said he was glad that people came together to work on the food drive. “I would say I enjoyed bringing everyone together in the community, including motorcycle clubs and other civilians,” he said.

Deierling appreciated the help from the local club as well.

“It was incredible to ride up to the Lucky 13 Saloon and see rows of Harley-Davidson's, a flurry of bikers socializing and a trailer awaiting the bounty of food that was stacked inside the bar and being carried up to a scale to be weighed,” he said. “This was an amazing first-time event that I sure hope becomes and annual tradition.”

Leathers said that the club is currently considering if they should run the food drive again next year. “We are looking into that right now and will have a decision in the next couple of months,” he said.

SOURCE: North County Outlook

Man punched in front of Hells Angels clubhouse

New York City, NY  (December 31, 2018) BTN — A food deliveryman was punched in the face outside the Hells Angels MC's clubhouse in the East Village Monday, police said. The 22-year-old victim was attacked on East Third Street near Second Avenue outside the clubs’s headquarters about 2 a.m. Monday.

Cops said the deliveryman parked in front of a row of motorcycles to deliver food to a nearby address. A 60-year-old man told him he couldn’t park there, cops say.

Hells Angels MC Clubhouse 

The victim refused to move and a second man in his 30's punched him in the face. He declined medical treatment. Nobody has been arrested.

It wasn’t the first time members have allegedly attacked outsiders over parking spaces in front of the clubhouse.

In December 2016, Hells Angel MC member Anthony Iovenitti was arrested for shooting a 25-year-old man during a wild brawl after the victim moved an orange parking cone club members use to reserve public parking spaces for themselves.

David Martinez survived but had a bullet lodged in his spine.

SOURCE: New York Daily News