Sixteen people were indicted in Georgia’s largest motorcycle gang indictment in Operation Patronus. (Mugshots from Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s Office; Screenshot of guns on a table from Savannah, Georgia’s NBC affiliate WSAV-TV)
Sixteen alleged members of an outlaw motorcycle gang, including nine who were reportedly U.S. Army veterans, face a slew of gang-related charges in what authorities in Georgia say is that state’s largest motorcycle gang indictment.
The arrests follow the culmination of Operation Patronus, a multi-agency investigation involving gangs and guns in southeast Georgia, targeting the highly organized Outcast Motorcycle Gang, considered an outlaw motorcycle gang or a “One-Percenter” motorcycle gang. Authorities seized about $180,000 in cash, 71 guns, two motorcycles, and two cars. Local, state, and federal law enforcement executed more than 40 search warrants across numerous counties in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida, officials said in a news release.
The gang engages in various criminal activities, including murder, assault, and drug and weapons trafficking, authorities said. Allegations include violations of the street gang terrorism and prevention act, aggravated assault, attempted armed robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery by intimidation and firearms possession.
A spokesman for the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division issued a statement saying, “Motorcycle gangs are a criminal threat to any community, to include the Army. This joint investigation shows when all levels of law enforcement work together we can identify, prosecute, and dismantle these types of motorcycle gangs and keep the communities in and around our military installations safe. Any gang activity, and associated crimes are investigated by the appropriate agency and information is collectively shared among law enforcement agencies.”
The spokesperson did not confirm any of the suspect’s military service, saying to contact U.S. Human Resources Command for more information on the individuals involved. A representative from that department did not return messages from Law&Crime.
The U.S. Army Human Resources Command confirmed to the Augusta Chronicle that nine of the individuals indicted are former military and listed the names, ranks and jobs while in the military, including several who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The indictment alleges members and associates of the motorcycle club conspired for nearly 11 months from Aug. 24, 2021, to July 16, 2022, to violently assault members of a rival club and rob them of their motorcycle vests on June 17, 2022, at a bar in Richmond Hill, Georgia.
An indictment outlines a chronology of allegations following a confrontation that began when suspected Outcast members approached their rivals, the Chosen Few, and told them they did not belong there. Outcast associates then allegedly followed and beat a rival with a chain in another county. The indictment outlines a time in April 2022 when Outcast associates went to a motorcycle club association meeting where they “asserted their dominance” of the southeast Georgia territory.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr called the indictment historic.
“By leveraging our resources, we can more effectively dismantle the growing gang networks that are terrorizing our communities and endangering the lives of our most vulnerable citizens,” he said.
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