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Polish Death Metal Band Arrested In SoCal On Suspicion Of Kidnapping Woman
(Courtesy of Decapitated/Facebook)
Members of a Polish death metal band were arrested Saturday in Santa Ana by L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies and were charged with first degree kidnapping.
The arrest was made after the band had played a show at the Observatory venue in Santa Ana. According to a release by authorities, all four members of Decapitated were apprehended without incident. They included Michal Lysejko (27 years old), Waclaw J. Kieltyka (35), Rafal Piotrowski (31) and Hubert Wiecek (30), who are all Polish nationals. Deputy Grace Medrano of the County Sheriff’s told LAist that they’re being held pending extradition to Spokane, Washington, where the alleged kidnapping had taken place. The Spokane Police Department is handling the investigation.
According to a Spokane Police Department release, police first received a call on September 1 from a person reporting “an incident” that had happened the previous day at a concert in downtown Spokane. Spokane PD said that, with help from L.A. County Sheriff’s, the four were taken in based on information obtained from a follow-up investigation.
Steve Graham, an attorney representing the band, told the Spokesman-Review that “there was another side” to the story, adding, ““We have witnesses that can testify to the fact that the accuser came to visit the band of her own free will and left on good terms.” He also said that the band had offered to surrender to authorities in Spokane, but that police had not responded.
The band was on tour in the U.S., and had played the Roxy on the Sunset Strip on Thursday. As noted at Rolling Stone, the band had played six more North American shows after the alleged kidnapping, before being arrested in Santa Ana.
Neither the L.A. County Sheriff's Department or Spokane PD was able to provide an update on the status of the alleged victim.
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