CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted 27 members of a motorcycle gang, including 10 from North Carolina, on charges ranging from attempted murder to drug distribution.
One by one, federal agents brought members of the Outlaws to the federal courthouse in Charlotte.
I was babysitting for my new grandson in Boone and I got a call from an ATF agent saying they were arresting my husband, said Gay McDermott, whose husband Brian was arrested.
Agents also arrested the national president of the American Outlaw Association, 53-year-old Jack Rosga of Milwaukee, Wis.
Early Tuesday morning, agents raided the Newton chapter of the biker gang and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police SWAT officers assisted with an arrest in Mecklenburg County. Ten alleged members were indicted in the Carolinas and six appeared in a Charlotte courtroom Tuesday afternoon.
Experts say the outlaws are one of the most violent gangs in the country. They're linked to murders, arsons and kidnappings.
One member who did not want to be identified says that's not true of the Newton chapter.
We're still trying to live down reputations of 1960s and 70s and stuff, but you've got people that won't let a dog lay, the man said.
The indictment links the gang to planning assaults on rival gangs like the Hells Angels in York County, S.C.
Brian McDermott is not charged with anything like that. ATF agents say that he distributed meth for the gang in April and carried a firearm while doing it. His family is stunned by the charges.
The man that I know is an executive for a very important company out of Washington state, said McDermott's wife. He's a family man. He doesn t do anything, but go riding his bike and he'll come back home.
The McDermotts are in bankruptcy and because of that, Brian McDermott was given a court-appointed attorney like the other suspects. Right now, they are being held without bond, but hearings are scheduled for Friday.
