Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler of the St. Petersburg Times has issued the following report:

The case against Leon R. Whitman started early Sunday, when a Tampa police officer on patrol near the Wyndham Westshore Hotel encountered a distraught 16-year-old who said she had just been pressured into having sex with Whitman.

By Monday, police were working with FBI investigators to determine whether Whitman, a 47-year-old bus driver for a heavy metal band, had victimized other girls. They say more than 200 images seized from Whitman's digital camera suggest he did.

"This thing started real small, and it just mushroomed," said Tampa police Det. Robert Parrish "There's going to be more victims."

For now, Whitman is charged with three counts of pornography and two counts of unlawful sexual activity with the 16-year-old girl. He also is accused of interfering with custody of the teen, whose mother did not know she flew to Tampa on Saturday from her home in Michigan.

Whitman, of Swartz Creek, Mich., is being held in the county jail in lieu of $33,000 bail.

A tour bus driver for the band OPETH, he was in Tampa Bay because OPETH played at the State Theater in St. Petersburg on Saturday night. Whitman, a convicted cocaine trafficker, met the teen about a year ago in Michigan, Parrish said. He told the teen if she flew to Tampa, he would take pictures of her and help her land a job in Los Angeles, according to Parrish. Whitman promised the girl $600, and he offered to take her to Los Angeles on the band's bus, Parrish said. He said the band knew nothing about it.

Saturday, Whitman picked the girl up at Tampa International Airport and brought her to his room at the Wyndham. There, he and the teen had sex, Parrish said.

"She's in Tampa, she has no money, and he was controlling things," Parrish said. "She was a very naive girl."

The girl left the room, shaken, and was walking near the Wyndham when a patrol officer spotted her. Whitman admitted to detectives that he knew the girl was underage, and he admitted he had sex with her, Parrish said.

Investigators seized a video camera that contained footage of Whitman's sexual encounter with the girl, according to police.

Whitman also had a digital camera, which Parrish found on OPETH's bus. Parrish said it contains about 240 pictures of seven to eight females, some of them obviously underage.

Authorities also seized Whitman's computer, but they have not yet analyzed its contents. Based on Whitman's reaction when police took it, Parrish anticipates the computer contains more pornographic images that could lead to additional victims — and further charges.

"He was very adamant," Parrish said. "He did not want me to touch his computer."

I hope they hang that sick son of a bitch

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for sure

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They should burn his testicles off. That'd show him.

Hahaha.

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Damn...

HAHAHA too bad for the gay

Hahahah I wonder what's going through Mike and the others' minds haah.

Sixteen is legal over here so the age difference isn't that shocking. Still a rapist though.

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That makes me sick. Stick him in prison castrated with a rusty razorblade.

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But on another note, Opeth needs a busdriver! I'm unemployed. I wonder if Denny would mind. hmm...

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HAHAHAHA

i bet they all feel so creeped out right now

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BULLSHIT. i doubt their bussdriver was fucking young groupies behind their backs. fuck it, chances are if the girl had stayed at home her daddy would have beaten and raped her anyway. when a 16 fly's crosscountry to get naked porn pics taken by a heavy metal bands cocaine dealing bussdriver, there are probably a few issues. it's probably a better of two evils story.

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I highly doubt that and I also doubt that the band didn't know, too. But the whole arrangement sounds pretty lame to me. He still needs an asskicking. And if the band knew about it, they do as accessories.

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Awesome! I just found Till Fjälls on The End!

hahahaha, opeth....

I betcha these guys were in cahoots, and driver's just covering for everybody...

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Hazard pay

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This guy must be a real asshole taking 16 year old girls like that i mean shit thats wrong he's 47!!!!!!

And i do wonder what the band think of this cocksikle now.

Well, most people like that are prone to brag to someone that's why I think someone else knew about it.

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So this is what Foxguitar has been up to on his leave of absence.

haha Nah, he hasn't been that absent. But I had a guy tell me last night if he was 20 years older and sober.... heehee that cracked me up. Not here, btw.

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What she said.

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The under age sex isn't funny...but being opeth's bus driver is it..

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No

They should stick his weinie in the hot tailpipe of the bus after it's gone a few hundred miles across the Mojave.

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I can't agree more with you to be honest but they should kill the bastard after that.

And it's dumb asses like that that would be that way regardless of what they were doing, but they just happen to be involved in a current genre of music that draws a bit of controversy just because and that makes people who don't know shit do things like in unanything's thread.
I heard that the Strauss' waltzes were supposed to be an evil for the youth of their day. But this just plain sucks.

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Wow.

Opeth probably knew. It was like a deal "You can rape all teh underage girls you want and videotape it too, but we wont play you for driving the bus."

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http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/11/15/s...m.ap/index.html

Another one that should be maimed. I had a lot of kids at my house, but I had rules, too. NEVER would I have done anything like that. Even if they were of age! They were like my own kids.

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Some people really are mentally challenged aren't they?

More like, "You can rape all the girls you want, but make sure you video tape them so we can watch them and masturbate to them later!"

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That kind of reminds me of my friend's Shawns mom...shed always hit on me and the rest of his friends..never too much though..once on my brithday she wanted to kiss me...then i gave her my hand because im the man..

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The End's site keeps getting fancier everytime I visit (BTW I just ordered Politics from TER yesterday )

I just hope this won't drag on and fuck up the band somehow

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Music be damned if there's kids' lives at stake here. Priorities. If human beings were as important as entertainment then things might be a little different in the world. I hope that there's no flak with the band, too, but we'll have to wait and see. I'm not coming down on you either. I'm doubt you meant that the way it might have been taken.

I was talking to BassBehemoth earlier about this and wasn't one of Rob Zombie's guitarists doing something similar getting an underage girl to go from California to New England somewhere to meet him and got busted?

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as was mozart, beethoven, the beatles, the rolling stones, jethro tull etc etc etc etc.
it doesn't matter what it is, if it's different to current mainstream or just new it's the devils music blah blah blah.
dying fetus etc shouldn't have that problem though.....

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Music not be damned.

never heard of that, but the guitarist from static-x was convicted of this

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Don't you mean the drummer of Judas Priest?

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Who's the more wrong: someone fucking an underage, the little 8 year old girl that walks around in a bikini like eye candy, the parents of that girl, or the company that sells designer clothes for tottlers?

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Yeah, I remembered last night after I logged off that it was the guy from Static-X.

LucidDreamer-- You forgot the king of evil --ELVIS!!!! lol

powers'-- I would not let my daughter walk around like that. Maybe the bikini thing, but it would be a "tasteful" one and not something that barely covers an asscrack. A one piece is a better bet with a kid anyways since they're so active. The parents are wrong for letting their child wear apparel like that. But if there isn't a market for something it won't sell. I don't see any of those paper dresses that were popular back in the 60's around anymore.

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Do you consider a two piece swimsuit, regardless of size, appropriate for children though? Frankly I wouldn't.

I agree i got rather disturbed the toehr day walking home form town......

I was just normally walking as you do and then i looked over to this door that was opening up and the door opening caught my attention and following that some weird little naked boy ran out it was the scariest shit i ever seen!!!!

hahahahhaha!!!!!!!!!

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It was truly horrifying the kid was like 4 dude.

I vote: the society that spew them all forth

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Heck, when I was little and my folks would fill up this thing up with water that was actually the fiberglass roof for a Jeep I'd have my clothes on, but as soon as mom turned her back I was stripped and running in and out of it in my b-day suit. (you needed to know that didn't you ) I was 15 then. No, really I was really little then, but it was behind the house and mom made sure I got my clothes back on quick.

I've seen some of the little sunsuits and stuff on little girls that are in no way sexy or anything other than just cute. They look like little kid clothes and not something some trashy teenager or older bitch would be wearing.

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Yeah Dave Holland got done the other year for abusing a handicap kid he was supposed to be giving drum lessons to! But the ex Static X guitarist got a years prison time for being caught with a minor, that was a funny one as didn't he pose on the internet as someone who was pretending to be him or something?

Mind you Elvis courted an under aged Priscilla and Jimmy Page was getting jiggy with a 14 year old Lori Maddox and nobody thought it wise to advise them that it wasn't a good idea!?

Unfortunately the music (entertainment)industry is ripe ground for sexual predators, lots of young star struck girls given promises or opportunities that don't materialise because someone just wants their dick sucked.

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Yup, that's true. The old casting couch routine.

But as far as Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, they were from the south and back then it wasn't that weird. After all back then most women were just for cooking and cleaning and "keeping their man happy." If you want a chuckle read The Total Woman from back in the 60's or 70's. HA! I remember reading those and some of that is just so not right now that I'm older and in a different era. A lot of show people just wanted a trophy anyways. Now they want a quick lay and that's it and they used to be able to get away with it til it got more out in the open that they have twisted minds.

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This is a statement from Opeth.com.

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...they can all drive, why the hell do they need a damn "driver" anyway?

When I saw Krisiun and Incantation, they showed up to the bar in fucking minivans in the customer parking lot.....hahah, incantation's car was parked directly next to mine.

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I'd much rather a full time driver than myself taking the wheel while heavily drinking from city to city.

But good job on Opeth's part for releasing that statement..it was sincere.

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He was with her for like 2 years or something hahaha.
The worst thing is that they found the photos on the bus, where Opeth are every single day.

if I'd tour, that would mean tiring shows and lots of drinking after that. And then you'd have to drive for hours. I guess not having to worry about driving and getting some night sleep is too un-metal for you?

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Well, it's bad enough trying to get everythign together to play let alone figure out maps and hotels and all that crap. I'd want a driver. And bus drivers have cdl's/ chauffer's licenses if I remember correctly. It's got to do with axles, weights, and stuff. Probably not many rock stars keep up on those.

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a-fucking-men. I heard about this from my old drummer today. Sick shit.

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So they can rest, for one. Two, because the last thing a band needs to worry about is getting them to the venue, especially in a foreign country. And fuck, 3, would you have trusted Metallica with the bus? Hell no. The bus would've rolled over years before in sunny conditions, in the middle of a stretch of straight highway.

And those bands are dirt poor. they can't afford tour buses.

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Jackson Browne recorded one of the songs on his "Running on Empty" album on their Silver Eagle bus. You can hear the gears shifting and motor noise in the song. It's cool.

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yeah i agree. they could have givien a half-hearted comment or just ignored it, but they went into the drugs and porno tidbits nicely. well done to Opeth

the weird thing is, if opeth did endorse child-porn, they probably would have stood to lose less fans than metallica sueing napster.

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hahaha , so fucking true!

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I would still like them

It's about the music not what they do out of the band.