SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment today against Michael Mahoney, 29, of Fairfield, charging him with possessing a firearm with an obliterated or altered serial number and possessing an unregistered short-barreled shotgun, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
Mahoney is the third individual to be indicted in the Eastern District of California based on an investigation into a brutal beating at the clubhouse for the Vallejo chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. The other two defendants—Jaime Alvarez and Dennis Killough Jr.—were indicted by a grand jury on May 27, 2022.
According to court documents, 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, Alvarez, Killough, and other club members based on perceived infractions of the Hells Angels’ rules.
According to court documents, on Dec. 8, 2021, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Mahoney’s Fairfield home and 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 sawed 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.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Solano County District Attorney’s Office, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, the Vacaville Police Department, the Vallejo Police Department, the Fairfield Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aaron D. Pennekamp and Jason Hitt are prosecuting the case.
If convicted of possessing a firearm with an obliterated or altered serial number, Mahoney faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. And if convicted of possessing an unregistered short-barreled shotgun, Mahoney faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case is being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.