Hells Angels in South Carolina: from Rock Hell City to today

The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is an outlaw motorcycle gang that DOJ describes as having more than 230 chapters in the United States and 26 foreign countries. In South Carolina, federal prosecutors documented the South Carolina Nomads (Rock Hell City Nomad) charter operating between Lexington and Rock Hill, whose June 7, 2012 indictment produced 16 convictions, with four appeals affirmed by the Fourth Circuit on February 25, 2015. Public reporting also documents a Myrtle Beach charter, clubhouses in Spartanburg and Anderson, and the Red Devils as a support club, with incidents reported through May 2026. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Key South Carolina cases

On June 7, 2012, 19 people were arrested on a 91-count federal indictment charging members and associates of the Rock Hell City Nomad Chapter with racketeering, narcotics, Hobbs Act robbery, money laundering and firearm offenses. Agents executed 23 search warrants in North and South Carolina and seized drugs and approximately 100 firearms, including two automatic machine guns, after a two-year investigation by the South Carolina Hells Angels Task Force. The U.S. Attorney's Office stated that the investigation began in response to community concerns about outlaw motorcycle gangs in Rock Hill and developing violence between the Hells Angels and the American Outlaws Association. [10][2]

On March 20, 2013, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced that a federal jury convicted charter president Mark Baker (a/k/a Lightning), David Oiler (a/k/a Gravel Dave) and Bruce Long (a/k/a Bruce-Bruce) of racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking, money laundering and firearm offenses. The Associated Press reported on May 10, 2013 that five Rock Hill members were sentenced on federal weapons and drug charges. On June 19, 2013, Judge Cameron Currie sentenced Baker to 188 months, Oiler to 200 months and Long to 168 months; the release states that 16 members and associates were convicted and that leadership passed from Dan Bifield to Baker after members voted Bifield out as president. On February 25, 2015, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the convictions and sentences of Baker, Oiler, Long and co-defendant Carlos Hernandez in an unpublished per curiam opinion. The opinion records a 107-count superseding indictment against twenty individuals, including members of the Southern Gentlemen and the Red Devils, and a 262-month sentence for Hernandez. [2][11][3][4]

In Horry County, a 2012 Horry County Police Department sting directed at the Myrtle Beach chapter, reported as Operation Red Harvest, produced 226 indictments. MyHorryNews reported on August 19, 2014 that 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson dismissed more than 115 of those indictments and that charges were dropped against at least 20 of the 34 people arrested. [12][13]

On January 23, 2018, Jerry Oliver, 52, of Lexington County pleaded guilty to murder for hire in a plot against his ex-wife; the U.S. Attorney's Office stated that evidence established he was a Hells Angels member and met the FBI informant through that membership. On April 25, 2018, Judge Terry L. Wooten sentenced Oliver to the statutory maximum of 10 years in prison. [14][15]

Where it stands

FOX Carolina reported on June 23, 2025 that a wanted man ran into the Hells Angels clubhouse on South McDuffie Street in Anderson and barricaded himself inside. WSPA reported on May 4, 2026 that a man told the Horry County Police Department that four Hells Angels members used a racial slur and one punched him outside a bar on Waccamaw Boulevard; the report states that no arrests had been made. [7][9]

The full profile, with every source, the county records and a dated timeline, is on the group page.