San Jose police seek possible rape victims of Vagos Motorcycle Club members Mercury News [URL]http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12667092?source=most_viewed[/URL] Three reported members of the Vagos Motorcycle Club are behind bars on suspicion of gang raping a woman in their North San Jose clubhouse last month, and detectives are asking if other women have been similarly attacked. Charged with multiple counts of sex assault along with gang enhancements are: Eduardo Larios, 28; Jose Portillo-Garcia, 28; and his younger brother, Edwin Portillo-Garcia, 18, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office. Larios is being held without bail and the two brothers on </body> million and 5,500 respectively, officials said. The case has been sealed and police released few details this week; just enough —they say — to inspire any other victims of the local "Green Nation" to report what happened to them. Police praised the woman in this case for helping them arrest the three men. "It takes a lot of courage," said detective D. Marchetti. "Any other victims who came forward would be helping to keep this from happening to any other women," continued Sgt. J. Robb. "Their courage would be a benefit to all women." The woman, who is in her 30s and has not been identified by police, met the three men at a nightclub in San Jose on May 4. She did not know them. They told her they would drive her home, police said. Instead, they drove her to their clubhouse on Kings Row and sexually assaulted, beat and threatened her, according to investigators. The woman was driven by a relative to a hospital and police were called. After making arrangements for the woman's safety, Marchetti and Robb tracked down one of the suspects by using information they gathered from an unrelated robbery. In that March case, Edwin Portillo-Garcia allegedly swung a baseball bat at an employee of the Tropicana Liquor Store on Story Road as he was stealing a 12-pack of Tecate beer, according to police. They arrested Portillo-Garcia and another man drinking the beer on their lawn. After serving search warrants earlier this month, the San Jose SWAT unit, also known as MERGE, helped arrest Larios and the elder Portillo- Garcia at San Jose residences. Edwin Portillo-Garcia was arrested a day later in Elk Grove. Vagos are considered — along with the Hell's Angels and Mongols — as a major outlaw motorcycle club in California, experts say. The Vagos often wear the color green and a patch with a picture of the Norse god of mischief Loki. Criminal gang experts say the gang was founded in San Bernardino in the 1960s. Authorities report that the Vagos have approximately 300 members among 24 chapters located in California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Mexico. Club members, they say, have been involved in the methamphetamine trade and have been implicated in assault, extortion, insurance fraud, money laundering, murder, vehicle theft, witness intimidation and weapons violations. Gang experts say that Vagos and other criminal motorcycle gang members sometimes wear specific insignia — wings, for example — to show that they have committed a sexual assault or other crimes. Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact Marchetti or Robb at 408-277-4102.
