Poison
Poison is an American glam metal band that achieved a lot of commercial success in the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s. They went on to sell over 45 million records worldwide and unlike a lot of bands from that 80s era, they never broke up, but rather underwent lineup changes.
Ricky Rocket Arrest on Rape Charges
In 2008, Poison’s drummer Ricky Rocket was arrested in LA at LAX airport as he disembarked from a flight from New Zealand. The drummer was arrested on outstanding rape charges as he made his way through customs.
The arrest stemmed from an alleged incident that happened a year prior in September of 2007 where a Mississippi woman residing in Neshoba county claimed the Poison drummer forced himself on her.
The drummer put out a statement on his MySpace page following the arrest, saying, “I was exhausted from a 14-hour flight and then was hauled off to jail. The worst part was having to walk past my fiance in handcuffs. She had no idea what was happening and neither did I. When I was finally told what I was arrested for, I almost passed out.”
Ricky Rocket Exonerated on All Charges
At the end of the day, Rocket was exonerated on all charges. The Neshoba County District Attorney dropped the charges after Rocket was able to prove he was not in Mississippi at the time of the alleged incident.
According to the drummer, he was in LA watching his fiancee try on wedding dresses. It turned out someone was using his name to convince women to sleep with him. The warrant, which had been issued for Ricky Rocket, also listed the name John Minskoff but Rocket’s real name is Richard Ream. The Poison drummer never used the alias John Minskoff before.
The press had a field day with the story and Ricky Rocket claimed that Minskoff was “a violent career criminal and felon and convicted purger with multiple convictions who has admitted to impersonating rock stars to pursue women”. Rocket slammed the press for not googling Minskoff’s name where they would have come across an alleged event where Minskoff pretended to be a member of Whitesnake to kidnap a 15-year-old girl.
Following his release, Ricky Rocket held an exoneration party which raised money for the Centurion Ministries, an organization that helps those who’ve been wrongfully convicted.
“I received undying support from my band, friends and fans but unfortunately my detractors had a field day with the story.” – Ricky Rocket
Rocket turned his attention to the press, saying in a statement on his MySpace page, “I received undying support from my band, friends and fans but unfortunately my detractors had a field day with the story. I look forward to serving the press who created defamatory remarks some healthy lawsuits.”
KISS
Former KISS drummer Peter Criss was living homeless under the Santa Monica Pier, spending his nights sleeping on the floor of a nearby men’s bathroom before he was saved by two Hollywood actors and musicians. As it turned out the story wasn’t even remotely close to being true. You can’t blame people for thinking the story was true though. If you were going to impersonate a rock star, why not pick one that wears makeup on stage and has been out of the public spotlight for several years.
“I lived an insane life for so many years and it almost made me effing nuts.” – Peter Criss
It had been over a decade since “The Catman”, Peter Criss had either left or was fired by KISS. He was living a quiet life, which was in sharp contrast to his days in KISS. He told Spin magazine, “I lived an insane life for so many years and it almost made me effing nuts.”
By 1991, Criss had cleaned up his act and was living in Redondo Beach with his former Playboy Playmate wife, Deborah Jensen and raising their daughter together. He was working on an autobiography, playing with other musical acts and writing solo material.
By New Year’s Day 1991, Criss was at LAX airport on his way to New York City. As he waited to board the flight, he saw an issue of Star magazine at one of the newsstands. It had a 2-page story devoted to the former KISS drummer and how he had fallen on hard times.
“There was a photo of some bum who was claiming to be me, lying in the toilets in Santa Monica and next to it was a photo of me in my KISS makeup.” – Peter Criss
Titled “KISS Star Hits the Skids”, Star magazine had allegedly interviewed a homeless Criss. He recalled in his book, Makeup to Break Up: My Life In and Out of KISS, “I was blown away. There was a photo of some bum who was claiming to be me, lying in the toilets in Santa Monica and next to it was a photo of me in my KISS makeup. I was furious.”
It was celebrities Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold, as well as Crosby, Stills & Nash drummer Dallas Taylor who came to the fake Peter Criss’ rescue.
Arnold ventured down to the Santa Monica Pier and offered help to the impostor. The imposter was dealing with substance abuse issues relating to alcohol and Arnold attempted to get him into the same rehab clinic he’d previously attended himself.
The story took an even more bizarre turn when Criss’ former alleged lover, Cheryl Ann Thompson got in touch with Tom Arnold. She sent the imposter a first-class ticket to come and stay with her and her mother in Massachusetts. The imposter got himself thrown off the plane for disorderly conduct while under the influence of alcohol and arrived in Massachusetts late.
Thompson felt bad for the imposter and let him stay with her anyway. He spent several weeks with Thompson and her mother, who took the opportunity to bask in the media spotlight. Thompson and her mother appeared on Geraldo Rivera and Phil Donahue’s talk shows and gave interviews with People magazine and Hardcopy.
Peter Criss Imposter Identified as Christopher Dickinson
It turned out the man living at the Santa Monica Pier, pretending to be Peter Criss was a man named Christopher Dickinson who was from Illinois. People magazine interviewed Dickinson who told the magazine, “It just got to be well known around Santa Monica that that’s who I was. I’d gotten my real ID stolen. Why I said it, I don’t really know. I was just very confused, very mixed up from alcohol.”
The imposter knew enough about Criss’ life to fool people for years and Spin magazine claimed that the whole ruse started when Dickinson was in a bar one, night several years earlier. Someone mistook him for the former KISS drummer. He played along and drank for free the whole night so he continued with the hoax.
Criss confessed how crazy his life had gotten with all the media attention, telling Spin magazine, “Suddenly I’m forced to come out. Pictures in my house are in magazines all across the country. Roseanne Barr is calling me on the phone. There’s people hanging around wherever I go. It’s like ‘Come on, I just got back from burying my mother’. We were actually hounded by reporters during the funeral.”
Peter Criss Confronts Imposter and Alleged Lover on TV
Criss sued Star magazine and then received an offer from his manager to appear on the Phil Donahue show. His manager thought it was a great opportunity to clear the air and confront his imposter, as well as his alleged former lover. He agreed to do the show and the episode featured a hardcore KISS fan, Tom Arnold, Peter Criss’ ex-wife who called into the show and his current wife, who was in the audience.
In 1993, Peter Criss and Star magazine settled out of court with the drummer getting a large sum of cash over the false story.
Dream Theater
In 2003, people around New York City started noticing a man claiming to be Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy, who was heavily medicated and intoxicated wandering around the city. The drummer’s website began to be inundated with stories from people who met the imposter.
The first story that surfaced involved a man named Carlin Langley who to a gay bar in NYC around February 2003. It was there that Langley met a man claiming to be Portnoy.
“He had a lot of detailed information about Portnoy’s life.” – Carlin Langley
Langley had never heard of Dream Theater or Mike Portnoy and told The New York Post, “He told me he’d just come back from Japan where he’d signed an endorsement deal with a drum manufacturer, he had a lot of detailed information about Portnoy’s life.”
After several drinks, the pair returned to Langley’s apartment where they were intimate. According to the New York Post, the next morning, the imposter had left the apartment with both of langley’s cell phones, his keys and wallet. When Langley called the bank, the imposter had already racked up $1,000 in credit card bills.
Langley found Mike Portnoy’s real website and emailed the drummer letting him know someone was impersonating him around the city. Soon, more gay men came forward detailing their encounters with the impersonator.
“He has all their music CDs, knows every beat of every song and has Mike’s schedule, both past and present down to a T.”
According to dreamtheater.net, one person who came in contact with the imposter claimed, “I wanted to somehow get word to Mike that there’s a guy in New York City who is pretending to be Mike, picking guys up at bars, restaurants and on the street, convincing them that he’s Mike Portnoy. the world-famous drummer from Dream Theater. He has all their music CDs, knows every beat of every song and has Mike’s schedule, both past and present down to a T. He says he’s been struggling with his sexuality lately.”
It wasn’t only gay men that the impersonator fooled. The New York Post detailed a music promoter and singer named Ray Freeman who fronted a band called Block 16. He met the imposter at a bar called Finally Fred’s. Freeman’s band was in need of a drummer and the imposter jumped at the chance to jump behind the drum kit.
“I kind of felt sorry for him.” – Ray Freeman
Ray Freeman told The Post, “He told us that his mother was dying of cancer, his wife was divorcing him and that Dream Theater had cancelled its tour because of the Iraq war so I kind of felt sorry for him.”
Freeman and his band members from Block 16 felt so bad for the fake Portnoy that they let him sleep on their couches. When it came time for them to jam with the imposter, it was apparent from the start that he wasn’t a drummer.
Freeman became suspicious and while the impostor bore some resemblance to the real Mike Portnoy, Freeman started to find photos of the real drummer and looked at his tattoos and compared them to the imposter. He realized that something wasn’t right.
Freeman found Portnoy’s website and emailed the drummer letting him know that someone was impersonating him. Freeman also noticed that some of his possessions were missing, including a vintage Los Paul guitar, his gold chain and a set of house keys.
On April 1, 2003, Freeman called the police and the authorities questioned the impostor, who turned out to be a man named Carlos Mendes. Mendes claimed he was the real Mike Portnoy but soon after, the police took Mendez down to the police station where the real Mike Portnoy was waiting.
Carlos Mendes Charged for Impersonating Mike Portnoy
Mendez was charged with criminal impersonation and grand larceny with bail being set at $100,000 but the story doesn’t end there.
The day after the arrest, a message was posted on Dream Theater’s website claiming more than 4 victims came forward within a 48-hour period. It also come out around this time that another musician fell for Mendez’s scam.
It was guitarist Chris Cafferty who played in the band Sabotage who took to his own website and posted his own meeting with Mendez, revealing that even though Sabotage played on the same bill as Dream Theater in the past, he’d never met Portnoy in person.
“He obviously did a whole bunch of research on Mike and his career and family.” – Chris Cafferty
Cafferty went on to say, “A few days later in the city, I was introduced to who was supposed to be Mike. The guy had the whole bar fooled.
He obviously did a whole bunch of research on Mike and his career and family. He apparently had stolen his wallet and cell phone. He had his ID so who was to know?
The guy knew very serious business details and family members of Mike’s. He was even recognized by people as Mike Portnoy. When I was with him, he held phone conversations on my phone with supposed mutual friends.”
It wasn’t until Caffrey got into a room to jam with Mendez that he realized the man was an imposter because he couldn’t play the drums.
Cafferty went on to reveal that Mendes went as far as to contact drum companies and get free products sent to him using Portnoy’s name.
In 2006, Mendez resurfaced and Portnoy took to the internet to warn people about emails he’d received about Mendez impersonating him once again.
Stone Temple Pilots
A year and a half before Scott Weiland’s death, TMZ reported that he had been arrested for stealing razor blades from a Beverly Hills pharmacy and for drug possession. The arrest happened around July 2014 and the story seemed plausible, given Weiland’s past arrest history and his trouble with drugs.
TMZ broke the news story but the man who was arrested was not Weiland and the whole misunderstanding that followed was due to a colossal screw-up by the police.
Scott Weiland is Reportedly Arrested
TMZ originally reported that Weiland was in jail for about a month or so, charged with both burglary and felony possession of a controlled substance. According to TMZ’s original story, Weiland made the mistake of trying to shoplift razor blades from a Beverly Hills Rite Aid and when a security guard tried stopping him, Weiland made his way out of the store.
Weiland was reported to be carrying an insulated bag so the security systems in the store wouldn’t be set off. A police officer ended up tracking the fake while a block or so away.
“I’m Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots.” – Jason Hurley
Upon searching the suspect, they found illegal drugs. TMZ claimed in their original story that Weiland pulled a celebrity card, telling cops, “I’m Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots,” but the cops arrested him anyway.
TMZ reported that Weiland had been in jail, unable to make the $95,000 bond and the cops charged him with burglary instead of theft because, according to the authorities, he entered the Rite Aid with the intent of stealing items because he was carrying an insulated bag.
The cops were so sure they had arrested Scott Weiland that the Beverly Hills Police Department issued a press release with the headline, “Celebrity Arrest”. It turned out the man that the police had arrested was named Jason Hurley and he was 2 years younger than Weiland and had red hair instead of black hair which Weiland was sporting at the time.
The first update to the story came a few days after the news of the arrest circulated online. It turned out Weiland had apparently posted bail because a barber at Shorty’s Barbershop shared a photo on social media showing Weiland in the store on August 9th.
“A nice piece of fiction from TMZ saying that I was in jail and have been for four months.” – Scott Weiland
The next update came in the form of a video statement from Weiland, “Uh, a nice piece of fiction from TMZ saying that I was in jail and have been for four months. I’ve actually been touring, writing and recording”
Even after the video statement from Weiland was released online, TMZ stood by their story, claiming they spoke to the LA County Sheriff’s Department who confirmed Weiland was still in custody. Later, the Sheriff’s Department issued another statement reversing their previous statement saying they had not arrested Weiland.
The police admitted they had no idea who was in jail and after asking the inmate questions about Weiland’s career, it became apparent the man was an impostor. The police claimed the impostor looked identical to Weiland and they would be following an additional charge of furnishing false information to a police officer.
Then there was another update provided by the Sheriff’s Department, which summarized just how big of a script the whole thing was. The Department’s Press Office apparently didn’t know the cops had fingerprinted the suspect and knew it was Hurley and not Weiland since he was already in their database.
The Press Office wrote a press release celebrating the celebrity arrest and the DA’s office had the case written as The People vs Scott Weiland. Once more information came to light, they amended the case to read The People vs Jason Hurley.
Van Halen
In July of 2008, it was reported by multiple music news sites that a man claiming to be David Lee Roth was pulled over for erratic driving in Brantford, Ontario in Canada. He allegedly told the police he was the Van Halen frontman and that he was having an allergic reaction to peanuts. Police waited with the man until emergency medical services arrived to take him to a nearby hospital, where he told the staff the same story.
David Lee Roth Imposter Spotted Posing for Pictures
Following his release from the hospital, the imposter was spotted at a local bar posing for pictures and doing karaoke with several of the nurses from that hospital.
Star revealed that the man posing as David Lee Roth was named David Koontz from Cambridge, Ontario. He had a long history of posing as the Van Halen frontman including performing with a house band at a local bar.
According to NME, the whole story fell apart after some of Star’s readers recognized the impostor and informed the police of what he was up to. TMZ reached out to the real David Lee Roth who was out on tour with Van Halen and clarified that he is in fact not allergic to peanuts but is “allergic to criticism”.
Roth Imposter is Subject of 1989 Murder Trial
David Koontz, years earlier, was at the center of a 1989 murder trial involving a love triangle between him and two women. Koontz was in a relationship with a woman named Kim Blinkhorn but when he told her he was leaving her to be with another woman named Roena Parsons, with whom he had a child, Blinkhorn murdered Parsons in front of Koontz and Parson’s 3-year-old daughter.
Blinkhorn claimed Koontz convinced her to carry out the act but he was found not guilty and Blinkhorn pleaded insanity. She was found not guilty of the crime. It came out during the trial that Blinkhorn paid for Koontz’s lifestyle and supported his band by working multiple jobs.
Never a person to let a tragedy go to waste, Koontz used the murder to get free things. The owners of a local hair salon in Cambridge told the media that Koontz told them about the murder in order to get free services including haircuts, manicures and eye treatments.
“…He’s a manipulator.”
One publication tracked down one of the imposter’s former friends who revealed, “I went to high school with the guy. We were sort of close friends and I know he gets people into trouble. He’s a manipulator.” Another friend told Sleaze Rocks, “He’s never changed. He was always hustling and scamming. I think he’s a sociopath. He’s got a talent for finding people who are gullible.”
As far back as the late ’80s, when he played in a variety of bands, Koontz was frequently mistaken for Van Halen’s David Lee Roth.
Around the time of his arrest in 2008, Koontz met a woman named Bobbi-Jo King after asking for directions to an AA meeting. He was able to convince King to come into his car and show him the directions to the meeting and he revealed to her that he was David Lee Roth.
King was convinced that he was the real David Lee Roth and told her husband she was bringing the singer back to their house. Her husband was so thrilled with the news, that he jumped the gun and told his friends who was coming to his house. He later revealed to Sleaze Rocks, “I’ve been humiliated by this. I told all my friends he was here and now my answering machine is full of messages from them making fun of me.”
Roth Imposter Faces More Criminal Charges
In 2017, it came out that the impersonator was facing sex charges. He went to his first trial in 2019, where a mistrial was declared. He was scheduled to go back to trial as recently as the summer of 2022 but there have been no updates on his case.
Like this story? Check out Randy Rhoads’ Tragic Death and History with Ozzy Osbourne
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