Former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland is the victim of identity theft.
A man who claimed to be the 46-year-old rocker was arrested for allegedly shoplifting razors and possessing methamphetamine July 26 in Los Angeles. The man identified himself as Weiland and furnished all the proper details, including his date of birth. He was taken to jail and held on a $95,000 bond, reports TMZ.
On Aug. 21, the real Weiland caught wind of the story and immediately posted a video to set the record straight. “I just got done reading something very interesting, a nice piece of fiction from TMZ saying I was in jail,” he said. “I’ve actually been touring, writing and recording my new album.”
He had a message for his fans: “Don’t worry. It’s lie.”
“On Saturday, July 26, 2014, at approximately 9:34 a.m., the Beverly Hills Police Department received a call of a shoplift that had just occurred at the Rite Aid in the 400 block of North Bedford Drive,” read a statement from the department, Us Weekly reports. “Police units ultimately arrested a suspect for that crime. Upon arrest, the suspect identified himself as former Stone Temple Pilots band member Scott Weiland.”
But now that the real Weiland has come forward, police have identified the impersonator.
“On Thursday, Aug. 21, 2014, Beverly Hills police discovered through an FBI fingerprint return that the subject arrested was not Scott Weiland,” they said. “The fingerprint return positively identified the individual as Jason Michael Hurley.”