DRUG PROBE OF CALIFORNIA BIKER CLUB ENDS WITH 12 ARRESTS

LOS ANGELES- An undercover probe of the Vagos motorcycle club led to the
arrests of a dozen people for allegedly trafficking in illegal drugs and
weapons.

Federal, state and local officials served warrants Tuesday in Los Angeles,
Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. They seized an unspecified
quantity of narcotics and 85 firearms, said Letice Baker, a spokeswoman for
the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The raids capped a two-year investigation of the international motorcycle
club, which was founded in San Bernardino in the 1960s. Federal officials
obtained grand jury indictments and state criminal complaints in their
investigation.

An informant used government money to buy illegal firearms and drugs, said
Jeffrey Ferguson, an Orange County deputy district attorney.

The informant gave authorities insight into the club's plans to traffic
methamphetamine and firearms. Law enforcement officials learned that club
members halted plans to allegedly transport drug on commercial airplanes
because of heightened security following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,
Ferguson said.

The group has denied committing any crimes.

Authorities identified only two of the people arrested. Dennis Lee
Watlington, 59, of Rialto and Richard Garcia Jr., 43, of Westminster are
being held at the Orange County Jail on $500,000 bail.

Watlington is charged with conspiring to sell an illegal assault rifle and
belonging to a criminal street gang. Because he was convicted of assaulting
a sheriff's deputy in Los Angeles County in 1999, he faces more than 20
years in prison.

Garcia is accused of selling an automatic weapon and a sawed-off shotgun.
He also faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted.