Wes Scantlin - Legal Issues

Legal Issues

Scantlin has had run-ins with the law over the years. In 2002, he and his then fiance actress Michelle Rubin were both arrested for allegations of domestic violence after witnesses reported seeing the couple, on their way to a video shoot, fighting on the side of Highway 126 in Piru, California. Several witnesses reported seeing Scantlin forcing Rubin into a Jeep Cherokee driven by an unknown third person. Sheriff's deputies and California Highway Patrol officers stopped the Jeep shortly thereafter and arrested the couple. Scantlin and Rubin were both booked at the Ventura County jail and were released after posting $20,000 bail each. The reason for the argument remains unknown.

During a 2004 show at the Headliners night club in Toledo, Ohio, Scantlin took the stage with his band, but after only four songs admitted to the audience that he was too intoxicated to continue. Frustrated, his bandmates walked off the set, leaving Scantlin by himself on stage. He remained on stage for another 30 minutes, insulting the crowd and singing random songs that seemed to be made up as he went along. Objects were then thrown back and forth between Scantlin and the crowd before he walked off the stage, where he was subsequently arrested by the Toledo Police Department for disorderly conduct while intoxicated. On the way to his booking, additional charges were brought after he repeatedly spat on the windows in the back of the police cruiser he was being transported in. He was released on a $150 cash bond. He said he would never play in Toledo again because he was arrested for "nothing".

Late in 2007, Scantlin got himself into trouble when he was banned from Graceland for swimming in an off limits pool while touring the facilities.

In 2012, Scantlin found himself in trouble again when he failed to pay nearly $45,000 in federal taxes in 2009, on top of a $17,000 tab for state taxes. Earlier that same year he was also arrested for felony cocaine possession and was also charged with two misdemeanors — being under the influence of a controlled substance and driving without a license. In July 2012, he agreed to plead guilty to the cocaine possession in exchange for having the misdemeanors dropped. Sentenced to completing a drug counseling program, he had to show proof that he was enrolled by August.

On September 4, 2012, Scantlin was arrested while traveling on a cross country flight from Boston to Los Angeles because he was intoxicated. The airplane had to make an emergency landing in Austin, Texas. He was charged with public intoxication.