Hells Angels Leader Takes Plea Bargain

National Hells Angels leader George Christie Jr. pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to sell drugs and no contest to filing a false tax return, capping the longest and most expensive criminal case in Ventura County history.

Christie, 54, his ex-wife and 25-year-old son all entered pleas in Superior Court in Ventura after cutting deals that end with the dismissal of most of the counts against them.

The surprise plea bargain apparently ends a five-year investigation into allegations that the elder Christie ran a criminal ring that stole drugs from an Air Force base and sold them to teenagers as they left five school campuses in Ventura and Ojai.

Prosecutors had charged that Christie, operating out of his Main Street tattoo parlor and Angels clubhouse in Ventura, illegally sold prescription drugs at or near the high schools through a group of youths called “The Outfit.”

Cheryl Christie, 55, pleaded guilty to one count of accessory to grand theft after the fact. George Christie III, also a Hells Angel, pleaded no contest to two counts of possession of drugs for sale.

“Everybody’s been great,” said a smiling George Christie Jr., standing on Main Street in downtown Ventura with his fiancee after the plea. “I’m going to go out to dinner and take advantage of my freedom.”

He said he would not make any statements on the plea bargain until after the April 17 sentencing.

Prosecutors said their position was undercut last month when a Santa Barbara judge ruled that the Ventura County grand jury that indicted 28 Hells Angels and associates in February 2001 was defective because it was contained too few women.

Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa threw out the indictment of a suspected murderer in another case, and opened the door for challenges by lawyers for the Hells Angels and anyone else indicted by the panel. Cheryl Christie quickly filed a challenge to the grand jury’s makeup, and several Hells Angels joined the motion.

Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Bennett acknowledged that the Santa Barbara ruling played a role in the decision to drop dozens of other felony charges against the Christies. But defense lawyers said prosecutors may also have realized their case was shaky.

Sixteen defendants have now pleaded guilty or no contest to reduced charges, and most have been released from custody. Many of the most serious charges have been dropped.

“Justice has been served today, and we’re all heading in the right direction,” Bennett said. “I think we’ve all served the community well.”

Bennett said the elder Christie faces a maximum of seven years in prison for the two admitted felonies, but probably will not spend any more time in jail. Christie was jailed a year ago, and spent 11 months behind bars before being released under house arrest last month on a $2-million bond.

Christie’s son, who has been in Ventura County Jail for more than a year, was expected to be set free late Tuesday. Cheryl Christie has been free on $100,000 bail for several months, and the court lifted strict bail conditions Tuesday that had kept her from visiting her ailing mother in Nevada.

Under Tuesday’s plea agreement, the government will keep $147,552 seized in raids of defendants’ homes and properties. It will return to Christie $60,000 that was confiscated during the investigation and the Hells Angels clubhouse in west Ventura that had been seized by authorities.

Attorney Jim Farley, who represents one of the Hells Angels still charged in the case, said prosecutors may have concluded that their 132-count indictment was overblown and that the case was not strong enough to take before a jury.

“It was something that was blown tremendously out of proportion,” Farley said. “I was concerned it might have been a vendetta between the D.A.’s office and Christie.”

Prosecutors and defense attorneys said little late Tuesday after agreeing not to discuss the plea agreements, which followed weeks of secret negotiations.

Altogether, the Christie family had faced 57 criminal counts--23 against George Christie Jr., 19 against his ex-wife and 13 against their son. Their daughter, Moriya Christie, a Ventura lawyer, was also charged with two counts of making a false statement on a home-purchase document, but that case was dropped months ago.

The massive Hells Angels case took eight months to present to the grand jury and included tens of thousands of pages of evidence, seized during raids over the last four years.

Defense lawyers have said previously that 28 defendants were charged with 132 criminal counts to force some to plead guilty and testify against the elder Christie, who for decades has cultivated the image of an upstanding member of the community.

Christie, a co-founder of the Ventura chapter of the Hells Angels and a national club spokesman for two decades, has always maintained his innocence in the broad drug-and-racketeering case. He was also charged with evading taxes, grand theft, fraud and firearms possession.

Christie has said the Angels pose no threat to the community. He describes his group as a recreational motorcycle club. Some members may have broken the law, but the Angels have never been involved in crime as an organization, he has said.

“I don’t know what the D.A. wants from me,” Christie said before his arrest last year. “Am I a threat to this community? No.”

In previous interviews, Christie said this case is just the latest in a series of federal and state inquiries that targeted him because of his prominence but that had led only to a misdemeanor fighting-in-public conviction in 1993.

He was harassed again, Christie has said, because he hosted the Angels’ 50th anniversary celebration in downtown Ventura in 1998.

He was most disturbed, he has said, by the charges that the Hells Angels were involved in the sale of Vicodin and Valium to teenagers, something he said he would never allow.

Prosecutors are trying to justify the time and money they’ve wasted investigating him, he said last year, adding: “And it’s a shame they have to go after my family because they have a problem with me.”

Times staff writer Margaret Talev contributed to this report.

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