The leader of a known motorcycle club and one of its members were convicted of charges relating to home invasion armed robberies in Schuylkill and Berks counties in the summer and fall of 2020.

A seven-day trial was held earlier this month in the U.S. Middle District of Pennsylvania court in Scranton.

Steven Wong, also known as “Chino,” 43, of Shallotte, North Carolina, who officials identified as the president of the Schuylkill County chapter of the Infamous Ryders Motorcycle Club, and Solomon Rodriguez, also known as “Solo,” 34, of Reading, were found guilty on June 21 on charges of conspiracy to commit interstate robbery and related charges, firearms conspiracy and two counts of use of firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani presided over the trial.

The charges stem from an investigation involving the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Pennsylvania State Police, police departments from Mahanoy City, Schuylkill Haven, Pottsville, Shillington and Reading Police Department, and the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. attorneys James Buchanan, Jenny Roberts and Sarah Lloyd prosecuted the case.

Officials say Wong used his position to recruit members of the motorcycle club to participate in a series of brutal home-invasion armed robberies in Schuylkill and Berks counties and rewarded loyal members involved in the conspiracy with money and free drugs.

During these home invasion robberies, two or three members of the conspiracy would enter the homes of local street-level drug dealers while wearing masks and armed with firearms and knives and rob the victims of drugs and drug proceeds. One of the firearms used was an automatic homemade AR-15 style assault rifle, police said.

During the trial, prosecutors presented the testimony from approximately 19 witnesses, including expert witness testimony from an ATF Firearms expert, and an expert in historic cell-site location data analysis. Both defendants testified on their own behalf.

“This group acted with extreme violence, invading people’s homes with machine guns drawn, and committing crimes that brutalized their victims,” said Eric DeGree, special agent in charge of the ATF Philadelphia Field Division. “Though our cooperative efforts with the Pennsylvania State police and local police departments, we successfully brought these criminals to justice and ended their trail of crimes, making our communities safer again.”

This case is also part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make neighborhoods safer for everyone.

Both Wong and Rodriguez face maximum penalties of life imprisonment when they will be sentenced at a later date.