A 30-year-old Fairfield man who is a member of the Hells Angels may have had second thoughts about facing a jury trial in a federal courtroom on gun possession charges.

Michael Mahoney, one of three Hells Angels from the Vallejo chapter of the outlaw motorcycle club indicted in 2022 on firearms allegations, appeared Tuesday for a status conference in a Sacramento courtroom of the U.S. Justice Department’s Eastern District of California. A previously convicted felon, he had pleaded not guilty to a pair of felony firearms charges on June 14.

But court records show Judge John A. Mendez has scheduled a change-of-plea hearing in the case and ordered Mahoney, who is out of custody, to return to his courtroom at 9 a.m. Jan. 24.

If he pleads no contest to the charges, meaning he would not admit guilt but state he would offer no defense, it is unclear what his punishment may be.

However, had he gone to trial and been found guilty of possessing a firearm with an obliterated or altered serial number, he would face a maximum term of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. And if convicted of possessing an unregistered short-barreled shotgun, the second charge, Mahoney would face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

As previously reported, two other Vallejo chapter members have already pleaded guilty to firearms charges.

On Monday Dennis Killough Jr., 51, of Vacaville, entered his plea for being a felon in possession of two firearms. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 27 by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

According to court documents, on Dec. 8, 2021, law enforcement officers, using a search warrant, entered Killough’s home as part of an investigation into a brutal beating at the Vallejo chapter’s clubhouse.

In October 2021, two different victims — both of whom were members of a different motorcycle club that is considered a “puppet” (or subordinate) club of the Hells Angels — were beaten by Killough, Mahoney and another man for perceived infractions of the Hells Angels’ rules.

During the search of Killough’s home, officers found two firearms, including a Taurus G2C 9 mm compact pistol and a Taurus model PT 745 Pro handgun. Killough has prior felony convictions, including previous firearm convictions, which prohibit him from possessing firearms.

The case stemmed from an investigation by the Vacaville Police Department, the Solano County District Attorney’s Office, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The third Vallejo chapter member, Jaime Alvarez, 52, of Vallejo, pleaded guilty in December to unlawfully possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony crime.

According to court documents, on Dec. 8, 2021, law enforcement officers served a search warrant at Alvarez’s home as part of an investigation into the brutal clubhouse beating.

During the search of Alvarez’s Vallejo home, officers found several firearms, including a Glock 27 .40 SW caliber handgun. Alvarez has prior felony convictions, which prohibit him from possessing firearms.

Alvarez is scheduled to be sentenced on March 7 by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd and also faces as much as 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The case stemmed from an investigation by the Vallejo Police Department, and, as in the Killough case, the Solano County District Attorney’s Office, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aaron D. Pennekamp and Jason Hitt are prosecuting the cases, part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods Program, the centerpiece of the U.S. Department of Justice’s violent crime-reduction efforts.

Founded in 1948 in Fontana by Otto Friedli, the Hells Angels is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club. The Vallejo chapter, at one time considered the enforcer for the Oakland chapter — founded by the late Ralph “Sonny” Barger, who later became the club’s de facto leader — was notorious for two members’ involvement in an Oct. 5, 1986, mass murder of a family of four, including two children, ages 5 and 17, in Fort Bragg. It was a crime that made national headlines on Oct. 7, one day after two members of the Sonoma County chapter traveled to Fort Bragg and, at night, burned down a house near Highway 20 with the four bodies inside.