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 Christian biker's family speaks out |
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| Christian biker's family speaks out |
   
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Aguilars say they are victims of intolerance because they try to help addicts, convicts. Take our poll.
By ADAM TOWNSEND and DOUG IRVING
The Orange County Register
Comments 33| Recommend 5
Anaheim As police continue to hunt members of the Anaheim-based Set Free Soldiers church on suspicion of a murder conspiracy, the church founder's family is trying to regroup in their house raided Wednesday by 150 officers from all over Orange County.
The family of Pastor Phillip Aguilar, Sr., 60, the founder and director of Set Free Churches Worldwide, returned to their Archer Street home from hotels Thursday afternoon to find the house a wreck, they said. Police confiscated phones, cash, credit cards, jewelry, autos and motorcycles.
Aguilar's son, musician Phillip Aguilar Jr., scoffed at the perception that the Set Free Soldiers ? long known as a Christian motorcycle gang ? was a dangerous criminal organization.
"It's like they were coming for John Gotti," said Aguilar Jr., 28, sitting on the stoop of his home Thursday afternoon. "They took all our money, all our wedding rings, all our cars, they took our checkbooks, credit cards ? you guys are going to find ? for us being a big-time gang enterprise ? a lot of debt. This house has become a spectacle."
Police response
Was the police raid on the Set Free Soldiers excessive?
Yes, 150 officers - some of them in combat gear - is excessive.
No, the police have no idea what violence they might encounter.
Leave these guys alone. Let them practice their religion in peace.
View Results
Powered by PollMonkey
Sgt. Evan Sailor of Newport Beach Police said "well over 20" rifles and handguns were also seized in the raid of seven residences in Anaheim, Costa Mesa and Rancho Santa Margarita. Detectives still shifting through evidence seized during the raids.
Aguilar ,Sr., along with his son Matthew John Aguilar, 29, a musician, and Michael Alan Timanus, 29, a laborer, were all ineligible for bail Thursday. Suspected Hells Angel John Phillip Lloyd, a 41-year-old tattoo artist also arrested in the raids, is eligible for $1 million in bail.
Sailor Thursday refused to confirm the names of the six others in custody because three additional suspects were still at large. All are suspected of conspiracy to commit murder resulting from their alleged roles in multiple stabbings at a Newport Beach bar last month.
UNFAIRLY TARGETED?
Meanwhile, the Aguilars not accused of crimes are trying to hold together their father's organization ? about three dozen recovering drug addicts and parolees are living in the two halfway houses by the family home near Brookhurst and Broadway in Anaheim.
It's because of neighborhood backlash against those halfway house residents that the Aguilar family claims police unfairly target the Set Free Soldiers.
"We don't deal with perfect people," Aguilar Jr. said. "If somebody's on drugs? I'm going to help them. They're trying to do to (Aguilar Sr.) like they did to The Hurricane or Malcolm X. That may sound big, but in our lives, he is that big."
"They've been trying to get my dad for years," said Aguilar Sr.'s daughter, Trina Aguilar, 27.
"The people there have been a concern to a number of people on that block," said Anaheim Police Sgt. Rick Martinez on the Set Free Soldiers. "They try to remain under the radar from us."
Some residents in the neighborhood have organized in the past to somehow eject the Aguilars and their halfway homes from the block in Anaheim, but others told Register reporters the Set Free Soldiers have been good neighbors.
WHY POLICE RAIDED
The arrests stem from a bloody barroom brawl at Blackies by the Sea in Newport Beach.
According to accounts of the fight police have pieced together, Set Free Soldiers were in the bar before the Hells Angels entered.
"We're the type of guys that if we want a beer, we'll have a beer," Aguilar Jr. said. "We're not that kind of Christians. I can't talk about the fight because I wasn't there and I didn't see it. If someone attacks us, we'll defend ourselves, but we're not about territory or drugs."
"My dad is the biggest peacemaker around," Trina Aguilar added. "The homes we have, fighting is the only thing you get kicked out for."
Two Hells Angels were stabbed and one Set Free Soldier was seriously injured when hit with a pool ball in the late-July altercation. The injured had wounds police considered serious, but all refused medical treatment.
Sailor said that if there had been any animosity between the two motorcycle gangs before the July fight at Blackies, it was under police radar.
Police are currently investigating whether the meeting had been planned before or was some kind of setup, he said.
A SET FREE HISTORY
Phillip Aguilar, Sr. started up the church in 1982 when he left a pastor position at Anaheim Baptist Church. Before that, he had been addicted to heroin and spent time in jail for child abuse. He said in a 1992 interview with The Orange County Register that his experiences lead him to turn to God ? Aguilar Sr. earned a bachelors degree by mail and attended Pacific Coast Christian Bible College in San Dimas.
Aguilar Sr. is slated for arraignment today. Meanwhile, Aguilar Jr. and Trina Aguilar said the wanted to speak out publically about what they see as their family's persecution, though they say family lawyers have advised against it.
"Members of our church who come from maybe a drug background and have gotten back on their feet are getting fired." Aguilar, Jr. said. "It affects everything. My dad, mom, two brothers, me, my sister our wives and 11 grandkids live in these two houses here. Our lives are never going to be the same."
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/aguil...250-set-anaheim
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08.08.2008 18:58 |
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