Pete Townshend Is Arrested in Porn Case 43 minutes ago
By ED JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
LONDON - Rock star Pete Townshend (news) of The Who has been arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children, police said Monday.
Scotland Yard announced that a 57-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of making and possessing indecent images of children and of incitement to distribute indecent images of children.
Police, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the suspect was Townshend. He has not been charged with a crime. Under British law, suspects are not charged immediately upon arrest, and some people are eventually released without charge.
Townshend, 57, said Saturday he had used an Internet Web site advertising child pornography.
He made the admission after a newspaper reported detectives were investigating an unidentified British rock star for downloading child pornography.
Police said they arrested Townshend under the Protection of Children Act after executing two searches at a business and a home in Richmond, Surrey, the town outside London where he lives. They said they took computers from the home and were examining them.
Townshend was being held at a southwest London police station.
Townshend said in his Saturday statement that he was not a pedophile and only used the porn site once while doing research for an autobiography dealing with his own suspected childhood sexual abuse.
Townshend helped form The Who in London in the early 1960s and wrote most of the band's hits. The title character in Townshend's 1969 rock opera "Tommy" — a deaf, dumb and blind pinball wizard — is sexually abused by an uncle.
Their parade of hits included "I Can See For Miles," "Pinball Wizard," and "Won't Get Fooled Again."
Earlier Monday, a group of police officers arrived at Townshend's Richmond home, one carrying a plastic crate containing packaging to store potential evidence.
Townshend's arrest came as part of Operation Ore, a crackdown on people who view child pornography on the Internet.
British police have arrested 1,300 suspects as part of the sweep, including a judge, magistrates, dentists, doctors and a deputy school headmaster. Fifty police officers also have been arrested, and eight of them have been charged with offenses.
Operation Ore is the British arm of an FBI (news - web sites)-led operation that traced 250,000 suspected pedophiles around the world through credit card details they used to pay for downloading child pornography. The names of British suspects were passed on to police in Britain by U.S. investigators.
Townshend's friend, the model Jerry Hall (news), said Sunday he was an "avid supporter" of child welfare charities and had spoken at length about the dangers of child pornography on the Internet.
(edited by gargs on 13.1.03 1607) "I used to date a homeless girl. That was pretty cool. You could drop her off ANYwhere. 'Date's over...get out.'"
This is really fucking sad. The Who are one of my favourite bands, and it really pains me to learn that the man behind all that great music might be a sick freak.
While it should be stressed that these are only ALLEGATIONS at this point, I must say that Pete's excuse seems a bit suspect. "I was checking child pornography sites as research for a book?" Uh....
Expect the Pete Townshend character in the inevitable Law & Order about this case to be played by John Malkovich.
And now...it's time for jokes!
* "The boy was underage? Sorry officer...I won't get fooled again."
"If you go out with a girl and they say she has a great personality, she's ugly. If they tell you a guy works hard, he can't play a lick. Same thing." -- Charles Barkley
I read about this on a different news wire, and that one said that Townshend and his people had actually arranged a meeting with the police that morning. He was still arrested, though, so I don't know if that means anything. Also, it sounds as suspect as "I was doing research for my book." Seriously, why would you do research on your book that way?
What other (legal) way is there to do research on child porno?
One question though..what if they find a few incriminating images in your Internet Temp Files (not just this type but ANY) but nowhere else in the house, computer, magazine stash under your bed..what happens?
Originally posted by Dagent913I read about this on a different news wire, and that one said that Townshend and his people had actually arranged a meeting with the police that morning. He was still arrested, though, so I don't know if that means anything. Also, it sounds as suspect as "I was doing research for my book." Seriously, why would you do research on your book that way?
Maybe the book was gonna be called "(Pre)Teenage Wasteland".
Originally posted by lazzzlobr>Everything about this is wrong...downloading child pornography for research and busting someone without charging them.
Strange days indeed.
lazzz
What I understood is that they don't officially charge you until they actually know what they are going to charge you for. But they do tell you what's up and they won't forget I bet ;)
This is sad, but if Michael Jackson can still have a career... OOPS!
Well, here are a few that have been going through my head since I first read about this...
'You mean that was kiddie porn. (1)Why did I fall for that?'
'(2)Love ain't for keeping, it's for deleting afterwards.'
'Why was I looking at kiddie porn officer; (3)I don't even know myself.'
'(4)Do you think it's alright... to look at kiddie porn?'
1) Why Did I Fall For That - It's Hard 2) Love Ain't For Keeping - Odds and Sods 3) I Don't Even Know Myself - Who's Next 4) Do You Think It's Alright - Tommy
And hopefully, this will end the jokes, one way or the other... Cause his looking at kiddie porn on the internet is only (5)secondhand love, and I sure hope this incident doesn't (6)outlive the dinosaur.
5) Secondhand Love - White City(a novel) 6) Outlive the Dinosaur - Psychoderelict
Damn it's getting hot in here, I feel like i'm already in hell!
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