WOODSTOCK – From a McHenry County witness stand, detectives offered a rare glimpse inside a motorcycle gang, a perspective not routinely offered to the public – save for prime-time TV.
At issue were three black leather vests with patches and insignia that identify with the McHenry County Outlaw Motorcycle Club. The items were seized as part of a criminal investigation stemming from a bar fight in November 2012 in Wonder Lake.
Prosecutors said the leather is contraband and was used in street gang activity. Joel Rabb, attorney for the American Outlaw Association, is fighting to get the vests returned and said it’s not illegal to be an Outlaw, and what the club members were wearing during the commission of the crime is irrelevant.
A forfeiture hearing was held Friday before McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather, who will decide if the leather vests will remain property of the sheriff’s office or be returned to the organizations.
The hearing didn’t conclude after an afternoon of witness testimony, so Prather continued the matter until March 6 when she will hear closing arguments.
Going beyond determining the fate of the leather vests, Friday’s court proceedings provided insight and a history lesson on motorcycle gangs in the United States.
Prosecutors Randi Freeze and Robert Zalud were careful to refer to the Outlaws as a “gang,” while Rabb stuck to the term “club.” It was more than just semantics.
A DuPage County investigator who testified for the prosecution as an expert in motorcycle gangs explained the difference in two words: “criminal activity.”
James Duffy called the Outlaws a gang and said there are 14 chapters in Illinois with about 150 members. These gangs can intimidate others by wearing these vests covered in patches, he said.
One of those patches was called a “one percenter,” and those who wear it signify allegiance to organizations involved with criminal activity and a willingness to engage in violence, Duffy said.
The term “one percenter” means the upper echelon of motorcycle gangs, said McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Detective Kyle Mandernack. It stems back to the idea that 99 percent of motorcycle riders are law-abiding.
Outlaws have a history in McHenry County. Club members were responsible for the 1993 murders of Morris and Ruth Gauger in one of the county’s more controversial murder cases. The Gaugers’ son was wrongfully convicted for the crime and eventually cleared when federal authorities implicated Outlaw members for the murders.
Gauger served 3 1/2 years in prison and nine months on death row for crimes he didn’t commit.
The Outlaws since disbanded, but in 2012 the county saw a resurgence, Mandernack said. It’s unclear whether the Outlaws still operate a chapter locally. Rabb declined to answer specific questions about the organization.
Other patches on the vests include those that read: “GFOD,” which means God forgives, Outlaws don’t; and “OFFO,” or Outlaws forever, forever Outlaws. A woman’s vest also was seized and reads “Property of the Outlaws” and are given to members’ “property” or their wives and girlfriends.
• Editor's note: This article has changed to correct an error. The upcoming hearing date is March 6. The Northwest Herald regrets this error.