Pastor pleads not guilty

The pastor of the Anaheim-based motorcycle club the Set Free Soldiers pleaded not guilty Thursday in Orange County Superior Court to weapon and gang charges stemming from a bar brawl with Hells Angels in Newport Beach in July.

Phillip Russel Aguilar, 61, of Anaheim is charged with felony counts of street terrorism, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a deadly weapon.

The pastor’s son, Matthew John Aguilar, 29, and Set Free member Michael Alan Timanus also pleaded not guilty Thursday to felony weapon and gang charges.

Prosecutors say Phillip Aguilar is the leader of a criminal motorcycle gang disguised as a Christian ministry for recovering addicts and ex-convicts. The court denied the District Attorney’s office request Thursday that Phillip Aguilar not be allowed to associate with members of the Set Free group outside of his own family.

“We are not your normal motorcycle club,” the club states on its website. “Some say we are too good for the bad guys, and too bad for the good guys. We don’t argue that.”

Court documents state that a high-ranking member of the Orange County chapter of the Hells Angels confronted Phillip Aguilar at the Newport Beach bar Blackie’s By The Sea on July 27 about Aguilar and other Set Free members claiming association with the Hells Angels. The confrontation escalated into a brawl in which two Hells Angels members were stabbed. Attempted murder charges against seven men involved in the fight were later dropped.

Law enforcement officers seized large caches of weapons and ammunition from four homes where Set Free members lived in Anaheim during a raid in August.

The three men are scheduled to return to court for a pretrial hearing Dec. 4.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.