Richard Finch: Sunshine Band Sex Offender

Richard Finch: Sunshine Band Sex Offender

Richard Finch was born January 23^rd, 1954 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is most notable for having played bass in KC and the Sunshine band, having written multiple hits with Harry Wayne Casey, including the shake your booty song.

On March 23^rd, 2010, Finch was arrested for sexual contact with a 17 year old male. According an article from CBS news, the victim told police that he had had sexual contact with him at Finch’s home in Newark, Ohio. 
 

During this time period, Finch had a home recording studio where he worked with “young aspiring musicians”. The victims ended up being regulars that were at the studio. He would tell the victims that they “would need to be prepared for such activity if they sought success in the music industry”. In other words, he was grooming his victims and brainwashing them that abuse was the only way to gain success. 

 

At the time, Finch was 56 years old. Finch’s website at the time stated that the allegations were baseless, though police stated that Finch admitted to having sex with underage boys. The website stated, “We will let due process happen through the legal system," reads the statement. "We are sure Mr. Finch will be vindicated from these unfounded allegations.”. 

 

His bond was set to 500,000 dollars, and the judge ordered Finch not to have contact with the alleged victims or anyone under 18 years old at the time. Finch’s lawyer asked for the bond to be lowered, but it is unknown if that that ever happened. He was later held in Licking County Jail. 

 

There were several charges against Finch, one being the aforementioned sex with a minor, while the others consisted of sexual imposition. During trial, Finch was reported was as acting contrite, or guilty, of his actions, while also claiming that drinking prevented him from having remembered the events (despite having admitted to the events to police in the past). 

 

Finch told the judge that he “took responsibility 100%” and “regretted the way his musical legacy is tarnished by stupidity while under the influence of alcohol”. 

 

Eventually, Richard Finch was sentenced to 7 years in prison, and having to register as a sex offender for the next 25 years of his life. He later wrote letters to his victims in apology, and stated, “It is my own fault and I will work hard to regain trust and respect from those I let down, including myself.”.

Eventually, Finch was released on March 13^th, 2017. But apparently in April of 2019, he was in violation of parole for involvement with a minor male, and is now back in prison, this time serving in Belmont Correctional Institution. Allegedly his release date is January 4^th, 2020. 

video: https://youtu.be/EcvkaOH7W38

[SOURCES]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/richard-r-finch-kc-and-the-sunshine-band-founder-pleads-not-guilty-to-sex-with-boys/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/richard-r-finch-kc-and-the-sunshine-band-founder-arrested-for-sex-with-boys/

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2010/12/07/richard-finch-ex-kc-and-sunshine-band-bassist-guilty-of-sex-abuse

https://appgateway.drc.ohio.gov/OffenderSearch/Search/Details/A645043

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/dec/08/former-kc-sunshine-band-star

CHARLES COHEN: ELECTRONIC MUSIC SEX OFFENDER

Charles Cohen: Electronic Music Sex Offender

Charles Cohen was an electronic music creator born on October 9^th, 1945. He was from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, and considered a pioneer in synthesizers. In interviews, he came off as a, “quiet man with a sardonic sense of humor”.

On September 28^th, 2015, Cohen was arrested and charged with criminal attempt of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse with a child under 16, unlawful contact with a minor, and criminal use of a communication facility.

In what was described as an ‘undercover sting operation’, Cohen placed a personal ad on craigslist where he stated that he was looking for a, “skinny smooth versatile white guy” for sex. He received a response from someone claiming to be a 14 year old boy, who was in reality, an undercover detective. The detective agree to meet Cohen for oral sex during daytime and at a shopping center parking lot in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. When Cohen showed up to the meeting, he was arrested.

Police were described as having recovered a cell phone that showed the last message sent from the undercover detective. The detective was later lauded from the District Attorney Kevin Steele.

An associate collaborator of Cohen’s stated that they were “speechless….But not shocked”.

When the arrest happened, Cohen’s bail was set to 100,000 dollars, which he later made. At the time, he had a European tour was planned, as he had an album having recently came out; the tour was later canceled. When the tour was cancelled, Cohen’s record label representative Rabih Beaini of Morphine Records stated that they were shocked and had not known about the charges.

Cohen’s attorney, Scott Harper, stated, ““It’s a shame that law enforcement chooses to badger and trick my elderly client into communicating in a way that he never intended. Fooling, tricking and scamming elderly people over the Internet is like shooting fish in a barrel. It’s my opinion — and not necessarily my client’s — that the cop’s behavior was more reprehensible than the charges he filed against my client. I’m sure Montgomery County has a backlog of child abuse investigations concerning real children and instead of focusing on the real abusers and real victims, they have decided to devote their limited resources to entrapping people with fake victims.”

Originally, his charges would have had a maximum sentence of 20 years each, though Cohen was in poor health at the time, and ultimately served 5 months in prison. He was released July 29^th 2017. Cohen’s frail health was due to Parkinson’s disease, and on September 29^th, 2017, he passed away. 

video: https://youtu.be/Wu0kzKHCvqs 

SOURCES:

https://echoes.org/2017/09/30/charles-cohen-electronic-explorer-leave-the-planet-r-i-p/

https://www.factmag.com/2015/10/09/synth-veteran-charles-cohen-charged-in-child-sex-case/

 

1. Artimus Pyle: Lynyrd Skynyrd Drummer, Victim of The System

Artimus, or Thomas Delmer Pyle, was born on July 15^th, 1948, in Louisville, Kentucky. He is most notable for having been in Lynyrd Skynyrd not only as their drummer, but also having survived the fatal crash that killed multiple members. 

 

In 1993, Pyle was charged with attempted sexual battery and lewd assault on two girls. Pyle initially denied the charges, and claimed that they had been abused by people connected to babysitters from a trailer park that had a grudge against him; and the overall claims were just a way to extort money from the Lynyrd Skynyrd organization. While the allegations were going on, his lawyers tried to asceratain that the allegations were misreported by law enforcement and welfare workers unqualified to perform their jobs. Allegedly, the girls’ mother stated that she had not seen the girls be abused by Pyle. There was a contention that the girls were influenced by self-help books and tapes about abusive fathers. Eventually, Pyle pleaded nolo contendre, no contest, so as not to risk a mandatory life sentence if he were found guilty. Because of this, he was sentenced to eight years probation, and required to register as a sex offender. His official charges were “Sexual battery by an an adult on a victim under the age of 12”, and “Lewd, lascivious acts on a child under the age of 16”.

Because of his status as a sex offender, he had/has to register as an offender when moving to various areas of Florida (where he lived at the time), at least. In 2007, Pyle was charged with ‘Failure to register as a sex offender’. But officials lost his change of address forms when he moved to North Carolina. While a plea bargain was offered, he rejected it and ended up being acquitted in 2009.

Essentially, when Pyle moved to North Carolina, he didn’t have to register within his old state of Florida. He went back to Florida after to moving to NC so that he could reinstate his drivers license, after the sheriff’s office made a series of mistakes. Apparently, the sheriff’s office never consulted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Internet site, which would have shown he had a North Carolina address. They lost a document showing Pyle notified the department when he moved in 2002, only to find it again later on; The department also ignored repeated phone calls from Pyle’s lawyer’s office the week of Pyle’s arrest that he said could have resolved the matter. 

[NOTE:] I want to clarify, just in case anyone ever talks to me about this, that I do not consider sex offenders to be victims. Pyle is a victim of the Florida Police system that lost his paperwork despite him and his lawyer trying to get into contact multiple times. 

video:https://youtu.be/mJRc77DRCJI  

[SOURCES]

https://www.jacksonville.com/article/20090828/NEWS/801229094

https://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/sops/offenderSearch.jsf