It's been over two years since Phil Aguilar, founder of the Anaheim-based Set Free Church, and several members of his motorcycle ministry, the Set Free Soldiers, found themselves in a brawl with a couple of Hells Angels.
A few weeks after the fight, in which a member of Aguilar's entourage (who is now serving eight years in prison for attempted murder) allegedly stabbed one of the Angels, more than 100 cops from several law enforcement agencies raided Aguilar's home and arrested him and several family members.
Assuming you are 18 years or older, you can watch video of the fight, which was captured by a security camera at the Newport Beach bar Blackie's By the Sea right after the jump.
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And you can also read more about Aguilar in this week's Weekly feature story right here. The article describes the bar fight, Aguilar's arrest and subsequent trial, which ended with nearly all the charges against him being dismissed but his reputation in tatters. It also provides never-before-told details of Aguilar's amazing life story and his transformation from Anaheim hoodlum and heroin addict to born-again Christian and evangelical pastor who formed one of Orange County's first mega-churches, which at its peak in the early 1990s, included some 4000 members.
- Last but not least, for an advance peek of Aguilar's book, click here to read the excerpt, and enjoy some wacky anecdotes and photographs from his early life that you won't find anywhere else.
Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).