Mid-valley police kept an eye on Albany motorbike event

By Steve Lundeberg, Albany Democrat-Herald
Brad Betz of the Linn County Raiders motorcycle club says his club and other bikers were “profiled” by mid-valley law enforcement during an Oct. 23 fundraiser in Albany.
Police Chief Ed Boyd confirmed that four different agencies combined to send officers to observe the spaghetti dinner the Raiders hosted at Bogey’s Bar and Grill.
That’s because, Boyd says, the Raiders are a “well-known prospect group for the Mongols outlaw motorcycle club.”
“Both groups were here together in our town,” Boyd said, “and we were watching and documenting the activities taking place.”
Sheriff’s offices from Linn and Benton counties, plus the Oregon State Police, teamed up with the Albany Police Department to send eight officers, seven of them in plain clothes, to the event.
The dinner was held to raise money for the Mario Pastega House, a residence facility for families of out-of-area patients at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis. Betz is the manager of the Pastega House, as well as of the Samaritan Regional Cancer Center and Samaritan Regional Tumor Registry.
“They stood on the street and watched and took pictures, just like any citizen could do,” Boyd said of the surveillance effort. “Two Mongols were observed to be in attendance, one from Washington and one from California.”
Betz, who contacted the newspaper via a letter of complaint and then declined an interview request, wrote that “no criminals were identified, no outstanding warrants were issued, and no DUIs were written. Taxpayer money was used to thwart the enemy at the gate, but none arrived.”
Boyd said there was never an overriding intent to make arrests or issue citations, only to observe and make a clear impression that mid-valley law enforcement was paying attention.
“The outlaw clubs tend to follow the path of least resistance,” he said. “If they come to an event in a town and there are no officers there, they think, great, it might be pretty easy to get set up here.”
Police Capt. Eric Carter said the Linn County Raiders website, since taken down, had clearly indicated them to be an affiliate of the Mongols.
Formed in 1969 in east Los Angeles, the Mongols were originally a Hispanic gang but have broadened to include other Caucasians, but not blacks, Carter said.
The Mongols maintain a website at www.mongolsmc.com.