Thursday, June 17, 1999
Deputies assist in FBI raid on Avenger clubhouse
The Seneca County Sheriff's Department assisted the Sandusky office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation early Tuesday morning when a local Avenger clubhouse was raided.
The clubhouse, located in Berwick, was infiltrated at 7 a.m. Seneca County Sheriff H. Weldin Neff and two deputies were called to assist eight FBI agents. Neff said numerous items of an illegal nature were seized, but added he was not at liberty to discuss them yet.
"There were warrants issued for Avenger members, but they did not indicate that there were any local people involved,'' Neff said. "They were looking for contraband of all kinds; drugs, weapons, anything else of an illegal nature, including stolen property.''
This was part of a five-state investigation of a drug, gambling and theft ring by an undercover agent of the FBI that led to the arrest of 16 members of the motorcycle gang after a 2 1/2 year undercover investigation.
The alleged racketeering crimes were committeed in Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Indiana and Illinois.