Sikh motorcycle club founder sentenced for illegal weapons charges

The 27-year-old founder of a Sikh motorcycle club that prosecutors say was linked to the notorious Hells Angels has been sentenced for illegally dealing in firearms and unlawful possession of a machine gun.

Jashanpreet Singh of Lodi, California, north of Stockton, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dale Drozd to five years and four months in federal prison, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California. Singh was founder of the Stockton-based Punjabi Devils.

On June 6, 2025, the U.S. attorney’s office said, Singh attempted to sell several weapons to an undercover officer, including a short-barreled rifle, three assault weapons, three machine gun conversion devices and a revolver.

A subsequent search of Singh’s residence turned up more firearms, including a machine gun, a fourth conversion device and a silencer, the office said.

Additionally, officers found a pineapple-style capped and fused hand grenade and what was believed to be a military electronic capped Claymore mine, a post-World War II explosive device. The items were destroyed at the scene by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department’s bomb squad.

Singh failed to appear in court on July 21, 2025, and the state court issued a bench warrant for his arrest. Two days later, U.S. Customs and Border Protection notified the FBI that Singh had booked a ticket to India and was set to fly out of San Francisco on July 26.

Officers found and arrested Singh at the airport before he could flee, and he remains in federal custody. He pleaded guilty in February.

California’s Central Valley is home to a significant Sikh population, and Stockton is the site of the United States’ first gurdwara, or Sikh place of worship, founded in 1912, according to the California State Library. Sikh motorcycle clubs have sprouted around the country as a means of social bonding in addition to recreation.

But according to federal officials, the Punjabi Devils were an outlaw gang with ties to the Hells Angels, whose members often wore patches with an outline of Punjab, a region that includes northern India and central eastern Pakistan, and a turbaned skull.

The Sacramento chapter of the Hells Angels did not respond to a request for comment.

The case was investigated under Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative conducted by the Department of Justice in an effort to repel illegal immigration and eliminate cartels and transnational criminal organizations.

Contributing: James Ward, USA TODAY Network - Stockton