OPETH mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt has commented on the recent arrest of
their bus driver Leon R. Whitman who was charged on Tuesday (November
15th) with one felony count of using a child for a sexual
performance, three counts of computer pornography and one count each
of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and interfering with custody.
"Our busdriver on the last North American tour was arrested in
Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL for "unlawful activity with a minor".
Basically we're appalled by the fact that we'd employed this bastard
and even more disgusted by his deeds and obviously we will be much
more detailed in our background check for future employments. The
driver introduced himself only as "Rod" and seemed like a nice guy,
even though for us he was just another driver, and a bad one as well!
He said he owned a trailer company and that he was a drummer, playing
with TED NUGENT and several other bands in the '70's. We got
suspicious that he couldn't get into Canada (we had another driver
there) due to some previous drug "misdemeanors". Myself and Peter
(Lindgren - guitars) met him and the girl in the elevator of the
hotel where he introduced her as his niece. She seemed distant,
asking us if we smoked pot. "Rod" told us he was driving her to Los
Angeles. After the gig, he never returned to the bus and then we got
the news that he'd been arrested. Luckily for us one of Nevermore's
crew was able to drive us back to the hotel. The next day the FBI
stopped our tour manager outside the bus with a warrant to search the
bus for "Rod's" laptop and camera. We feel genuinely happy that he is
caught and behind bars where we hope he will stay for a long time."
((BWBK))
