A 42-year-old Hells Angels member has been sentenced to 136 months in federal prison, or 11 years and four months, following a child exploitation investigation that began with a tip to Fontana police detectives. Ryan Van De Car was sentenced on September 3, 2026, after pleading guilty earlier in the year to charges tied to the production, possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material.
According to the Victor Valley News Group, Van De Car entered his guilty plea on March 5, 2026, months after a federal grand jury returned an indictment on April 9, 2025. That indictment charged him with distribution and possession of child pornography, production of adapted child pornography, and production, distribution and possession of obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse, per the outlet's reporting.
The case traces back to November 16, 2023, when Fontana Police Department detectives received information from the FBI's Inland Regional Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force regarding suspected distribution of child sexual abuse material by Van De Car, the station's report states. Weeks later, on December 4, 2023, law enforcement agencies arrested him during an operation spanning Chino and Temecula, seizing electronic devices and other evidence from him in the process, per the same account.
Investigators Say Multiple Platforms Were Used to Target Victims
Investigators determined that Van De Car used multiple social media platforms to sexually exploit juvenile victims and to obtain and distribute child sexual abuse material, according to police cited in the outlet's report. FBI investigators also identified him communicating with both juveniles and adults across multiple chat and social media platforms to obtain images and videos of child sexual abuse, the article notes.
Authorities said the investigation ultimately identified multiple victims throughout the United States, though the full scope of those victims has not been detailed publicly. The case drew in a wide array of agencies, including the Fontana Police Department, an FBI task force, the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, the Orange County Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory, and the Los Angeles Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which assisted the investigation.
Lifetime Supervision and a Ban on Hells Angels Contact
Once released, Van De Car will remain under federal supervision for the rest of his life, according to the Fontana Police Department. His release conditions also prohibit him from contacting or associating with documented Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle gang members, a restriction tied directly to his standing within the organization.
The case was prosecuted by Mirelle Raza, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Major Crimes Section. Broader federal data from the United States Sentencing Commission shows that among 190 similarly situated distribution offenders nationally, sentences have ranged from less than one month to 240 months, though that dataset does not establish those offenders as directly comparable to Van De Car's case. The commission's research also found that 27.6 percent of 1,093 nonproduction child-pornography offenders tracked after release or probation in 2015 were rearrested within three years.
Federal law under 18 U.S.C. 2252A addresses knowingly possessing material containing an image of child pornography that was mailed, shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce, including by computer, according to the United States Code. Separate sentencing commission guidance notes that courts may impose a lifetime term of supervised release in certain cases involving actual or attempted sex offenses against minors, though that material does not independently establish the specific legal basis for the term imposed on Van De Car.
