Another Bay Area Hells Angels member pleads guilty to firearms charges

Another Solano County Hells Angels member has pleaded guilty to firearms charges in federal court in Sacramento.

Michael Mahoney, 30, of Fairfield, on Tuesday entered his plea to charges of possessing a firearm with an obliterated or altered serial number and possessing an unregistered short-barreled shotgun, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said in a press release.

According to court documents, on Dec. 8, 2021, law enforcement officers served a search warrant at Mahoney’s home as part of an investigation into a brutal beating at the clubhouse for the Vallejo chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

As previously reported, in October 2021, two different victims — both of whom were members of a different motorcycle club that is considered a “puppet,” or subordinate, club of the Hells Angels —were beaten by Mahoney and two other club members for perceived infractions of the Hells Angels’ rules.

During the December 2021 search of Mahoney’s Fairfield home, investigators found several firearms, including a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver with a serial number that had been scratched off, as well as a Sears & Roebuck 12-gauge shotgun with a barrel that had been sawn off to approximately 12.75 inches in length. Mahoney had not registered his ownership of this short-barreled shotgun with the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, as required by federal law, Talbert noted in the prepared statement.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aaron D. Pennekamp and Jason Hitt are prosecuting the case.

Mahoney is scheduled to be sentenced on May 2 by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez and faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for possessing a firearm with an obliterated or altered serial number.

He also faces a maximum prison term of 10 years and a $10,000 fine for possessing an unregistered short-barreled shotgun. The actual sentence, however, will be determined by the court and federal sentencing guidelines.

The case, part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, stems from an investigation by the Vacaville, Fairfield, and Vallejo police departments, the Solano County District Attorney’s Office, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The two other Vallejo chapter members of the Hells Angels, Dennis Killough, 51, of Vacaville, and Jaime Alvarez, 52, of Vallejo, pleaded earlier to unlawfully possessing a firearm or firearms after being convicted of a felony.

Killough is scheduled to be sentenced on March 27 by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller and faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Alvarez is scheduled to be sentenced on March 7 by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd and also faces as much as 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.