Family defends biker gang member

They say Jerry Lynn Garganus, 52, known as "Skunk," and the other Renegades, may look menacing, but in fact, they are loyal family men, who don't start fights, but will finish them if necessary.

"They put my Mom and Dad in handcuffs," said Skunk's 16-year-old daughter, Jeri Lynn.

She says she was sound asleep when a team of police raided their home in Elizabeth City, North Carolina early Wednesday morning.

"My Dad yelled, 'Police are here!' He didn't know why and then they busted in," said Jeri Lynn. "As soon as I ran out here, they were telling us to get on the floor, so we all got on the floor. I was really scared. I was crying. "

Jeri Lynn said her father didn't know what he had done and he was asking the police why he was being arrested. She says she was lying on the floor, scared and crying and her father tried to console her saying, "Everything is going to be fine, don't cry."

Suffolk investigators, working with police in Chesapeake and North Carolina say "Skunk" Garganus and two other members of the Renegades beat a man behind a barber shop in Suffolk earlier this month, and as they dug deeper, investators say they uncovered the violent world of a motorcycle gang operating in Hampton Roads and North Carolina.

"I mean he looks scary, that's just the way he looks. He looks mean, but he's actually really nice," said Garganus' daughter-in-law, Angel Sorrell. "He does a lot of charity work with the other Renegades, helping battered women and sick children. It's not a motorcycle gang, it's a motorcyle club."

"Skunk's" adult son, Charles, said his father doesn't drink or smoke or hang out in bars and he is always at home with his children and grandchildren.

"They are not bad guys. They don't go starting trouble," said Charles Garganus. "But, if someone else starts it, they might finish it."

Skunk's children say he has been married to their mother for nearly 35 years. She wears a leather vest that reads, "Property of Skunk," on the back.

They say his 5-year-old grandson idolizes Skunk, calls him "Pappa" and follows him around the house.

Police say Skunk told them he is known as the Renegades' "national enforcer," the one who travels around the country doling out punishments to anyone who acts against the club.

"He doesn't talk about that, not even to his wife. He doesn't even tell us where he's going when he goes," said Charles.

The family says all those medieval looking weapons police seized from Renegade hangouts are just for show, like the samurai swords people hang in their living rooms.

And the guns, they say, are hunting guns that have been in the family for generations and are kept locked in a gun closet all the time.

News of the Renegades' arrest made school very difficult for Jeri Lynn the next day. She's a sophmore in high school.

"I had to leave school today because people kept looking at me and talking about how my Dad was arrested," said Jeri Lynn, tearing up. "I just want my Dad."

But her Dad and the other Renegades are being held in jail without bond until their next hearing in March.

"Yeah, so I won't see my Dad for two months," the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Gurganus, Daniel Justice, 41 and William Jeffrey Wolfe, 43 are all three charged with assault by mob and abduction as well as gun and drug charges.