Pete Townshend Cleared of Charges

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Edgette

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From Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,86220,00.html


LONDON ? Rock guitarist Pete Townshend, co-founder of The Who, was cleared Wednesday of possessing pornographic images of children but still was placed on a national register of sex offenders.

That registration was part of a formal police caution Townshend received for accessing a Web site containing images of child abuse.

Townshend, 57, was arrested in January on suspicion of making and possessing indecent images of children. The arrest was part of Operation Ore, an FBI-led crackdown on Internet child pornography.

After a four-month investigation, London's Metropolitan Police said Wednesday the rocker "was not in possession of any downloaded child abuse images" but had accessed a site containing such images in 1999.

The musician acknowledged using his credit card to enter a Web site advertising child pornography but said he was doing research for his autobiography. Townshend denied being a pedophile and said he had campaigned against child pornography.

The title character in Townshend's rock opera Tommy ? a deaf, dumb and blind pinball wizard ? is sexually abused by an uncle, and Townshend said he believed he was sexually abused as a young boy while in the care of his mentally ill grandmother.

On Wednesday, Townshend said he was wrong to access the Web site, but said police accepted he had no "nefarious purpose" in doing so.

"As I made clear at the outset, I accessed the site because of my concerns at the shocking material readily available on the Internet to children as well as adults, and as part of my research toward the campaign I had been putting together since 1995 to counter damage done by all kinds of pornography on the Internet, but especially any involving child abuse," he said in a statement.

Police, however, said it was not a defense "to access these images for research or out of curiosity."

As part of the cautioning procedure, Townshend's fingerprints, photograph and a DNA sample will be taken by police and he will be placed on a national sex offender registry for five years.

Townshend, known for his windmill style of playing guitar and smashing the instrument on stage, was one of The Who's four founding members, along with bassist John Entwistle, singer Roger Daltrey and drummer Keith Moon. Moon died in 1978 and Entwistle died last year, but Townshend and Daltrey continued touring.

The group, founded in London in the early 1960s, was part of the first British rock invasion with the Rolling Stones and The Beatles. Their hits included "My Generation," "I Can See for Miles," "Pinball Wizard" and "Won't Get Fooled Again."

The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. (By U2 - J's cliffnote)


I've always believed Pete from the beginning that he was only looking out of curiousity (or research) and that he wasn't a pedofile. I'm glad the media are reporting the results as well. I was afraid they wouldn't and everyone would think he was a child molestor.

He may look like a scary guy...but deep down he's just misunderstood. (If you know Pete's solo work you may know what I mean, lol.)


townshend.jpg


tc_hf7.jpg



:wave:

~J
 
wasn't he cleared a couple months ago? he looks like shan macgowan in that second picture.

:up:
 
IWasBored said:
wasn't he cleared a couple months ago? he looks like shan macgowan in that second picture.

:up:


No, they said he would most likely be, but they were still investigating.

This is from Pete's Press statement from today:

Pete stated "From the very beginning, I acknowledged that I did
access this site and that I had given the police full access to all
of my computers". He added "As I made clear at the outset, I accessed
the site because of my concerns at the shocking material readily
available on the Internet to children as well as adults, and as part
of my research toward the campaign I had been putting together since
1995 to counter damage done by all kinds of pornography on the
internet, but especially any involving child abuse".

"The police have
unconditionally accepted that these were my motives in looking at
this site and that there was no other nefarious purpose, and as a
result they have decided not to charge me. I accept that I was wrong
to access this site, and that by doing so, I broke the law, and I
have accepted the caution that the police have given me."



...who's Shan McGowan? :der: :reject:
 
Shane McGowan is the lead singer for the Pogues.

Personally...I think ol' Pete is full of shit. But whatever. If ya gots $$$, you're off the hook.
 
I'm glad things are cleared up... I was shocked when I heard the news initially. Hard to know what to think, but I don't think his image as one of my favorite guitarists is challenged. He's an intelligent person, who made an obvious lapse of judgement... let's hope these things do not surface again, and sites like that are destroyed.

Who Tour next year anyone?
 
cujo said:
I'm glad things are cleared up... I was shocked when I heard the news initially. Hard to know what to think, but I don't think his image as one of my favorite guitarists is challenged. He's an intelligent person, who made an obvious lapse of judgement... let's hope these things do not surface again, and sites like that are destroyed.

Who Tour next year anyone?


I hope they tour next year. I saw them twice during their last tour (Chicago and St. Paul, MN) and they were awesome. It was hard because Entwistle just died, but they did a nice little tribute for him.

The only problem I can see with them touring next year is that Pete's hearing has gotten worse since the last tour. He went back to using an electric guitar and he said it caused more damage. I think during the next tour, if there is one, he'll be back to using an acoustic. Either way, it'll be a great show!:yes:

:wave:

~J
 
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