Christian Biker Gang Arrested

NEWPORT BEACH – Five followers of a self-described Christian motorcycle club were charged Friday with a range of felonies, including gang crimes, for their role in a bar brawl that led to the stabbing of at least one Hell's Angel member.

The members of Set Free Soldiers were arrested earlier this week in a dramatic early morning raid involving 150
SWAT team members. They were booked for investigation of conspiracy to commit murder but on Friday faced lesser charges stemming from the brawl they had with Hell's Angels at a Newport Beach bar late last month. Several were charged with possession of firearm by a felon. One Hell's Angel member has been charged with having a concealed weapon.

Friends and family of Set Free Soldiers members said the group was not a biker gang, but was a Christian ministry that reaches out to former convicts, drug addicts and others on society's fringes.

The group, founded by Aguilar in 1982, runs several drug rehabilitation centers in Southern California and attracts up to 200 parishioners to its Saturday night services in Anaheim.

Prosecutor Erik Petersen said he believed, however, that the Set Free Soldiers had strayed from their roots and became a biker gang. He said police who raided the group's homes Wednesday found illegal weapons and cocaine. See Chaplain Dann's BIKERS WEEKEND tract.