According to CharlotteObserver.com, Stephen Coronel who is best known as the original guitar player in WICKED LESTER, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley's pre-KISS recording act was arrested in South Carolina on Friday on child-pornography charges. The 63-year-old, who reportedly helped write the songs "She" and "Goin' Blind" which later appeared on KISS albums, was charged with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor after a number of electronic devices and other evidence were seized by deputies at his Bluffton apartment. Sgt. Robin McIntosh of the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office told CharlotteObserver.com that the investigation began when the U.S. Department of Justice's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force determined child pornography had been uploaded from Coronel's home. For more information, visit the web site of the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office. A former member of THE LONG ISLAND SOUNDS, Coronel introduced Simmons to guitarist Stanley Eisen later known as Paul Stanley before Stanley decided to join WICKED LESTER. In a 2013 interview with Kiss Army Sweden, Coronel stated about WICKED LESTER's early days: "The band started with Gene, Brooke Ostrander and myself. Then Stanley [was] brought in by me. Next [to join was] Tony, a drummer brought in by Brooke. We found a room above the Norman Watch Co. on the second floor of a walkup Chinatown storefront type building, leased by a sculptor, who rented the back room to us for use at nights and weekends. There was no heat in the winter. Stanley and I would run in the snow before rehearsal to a small Chinese liquor store to buy wine. Gene would scold us! We had many many rehearsals there. The following spring I got a call from Gene while I was upstate working as a waiter in the hotels for the holidays. A thief broke into the rehearsal room and our equipment and guitars were stolen. So we had to buy whatever used guitars and amps we could find. But we kept playing." He added: "Epic Records didn't like me for some reason. They said WICKED LESTER would get a deal if they replaced me. Gene had to come up to my apartment to break the news to me." Police booking photo courtesy of Beaufort County Sheriff's Office
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