The sergeant at arms of the Washington chapter of the Hells Angels will remain in jail after a federal judge ruled there was probable cause to hold him on a gun charge.

Ricky W. Jenks, 33, is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

His public defender, Kailey Moran, said prosecutors have no evidence Jenks possessed any of the loaded guns found at the Hells Angels Spokane clubhouse on March 3, just that his jacket was near them.

But Judge James Hutton said prosecutors need only to show that Jenks had knowledge of the firearms and had the ability to control them, not that he physically possessed them.

If police spotted the guns so easily, "one would infer that Mr. Jenks would also be able to see these firearms," Hutton said Wednesday.

Moran said the federal warrant authorizing the search of the clubhouse remains sealed but that it is a document-based warrant targeting another suspect, not Jenks.

Jenks, whose felony convictions include manslaughter, was the only local Hells Angels at the clubhouse. Another was from Tacoma and four others had flown in from out of state. None checked firearms when traveling and none are prohibited form possessing weapons because they aren't felons, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Aine Ahmed.

Investigators originally reported finding six firearms. Ahmed said Wednesday that investigators found two others in an additional search.

Another Hells Angel arrested in March, Michael R. Fitzpatrick, 33, wasjailed on a marijuana charge but released the next day.

He was to be arraigned Wednesday, but county prosecutors haven't yet filed charges.

---

---