OPETH Bus Driver Slapped With More Charges In Teen Sex Case

November 16, 2005

St. Petersburg Times has issued the following report:

Police have filed two more charges against Leon R. Whitman (photo, charge report),the Michigan tour bus driver arrested Sunday amid allegations he flew a Michigan teen to Tampa over the weekend and had sex with her inside his room at the Wyndham Westshore Hotel.

After reviewing pictures and footage on Whitman's digital camera and camcorder, investigators charged him Tuesday with one felony count of using a child for a sexual performance. They also filed an additional count of computer pornography, jail records show.

Whitman, 47, was already in the county jail on three counts of computer pornography and one count each of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and interfering with custody.

Whitman met the teen about a year ago in Michigan, according to detective Robert Parrish. He told the teen if she flew to Tampa, he would take pictures of her and help her land a job in Los Angeles, Parrish said.

Whitman promised the girl $600 and 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. An officer on patrol near the hotel later found the girl, shaken, wandering the streets alone.

Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said investigators filed the latest charges after they found pictures on Whitman's camera of the 16-year-old girl posing in lewd positions. McElroy said they also found video footage of the girl's sexual encounter with Whitman, who drove the tour bus for the heavy metal rock band OPETH.

Parrish said Whitman's camera contained more than 200 lewd pictures of several females, some of them authorities believe are underage. Tampa police are working with the FBI to determine who the girls are and whether Whitman victimized them, Parrish said.

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