A Chilliwack man known to frequently pretend he is David Lee Roth, and who is charged with sex crimes with underage girls, was denied bail on Friday.
David Kuntz-Angel faces 12 counts dating back from between 2006 and last month when he is alleged to have resisted arrest. He was on the lam for several months finally arrested at a residence in Abbotsford on Jan. 3 during which he struggled with an officer who eventually pepper-sprayed him in the face.
DavidandDavidWanted since the fall, Kuntz-Angel seems to have been arrested thanks to his own odd obsession with pretending he is David Lee Roth, the former lead singer of the famous American rock band Van Halen.
READ MORE: Chilliwack man wanted for sex crimes dating back to 2006
In opposing his bail in provincial court in Chilliwack on Jan. 19, Crown counsel Sandra Di Curzio addressed his penchant for pretending he is someone he isn’t.
Di Curzio pointed to Kuntz-Angel being found with two driver’s licences when pulled over by an officer.
“I don’t see how that is relevant,” his lawyer Sarah Rauch interrupted.
“If this is a person who goes by multiple names, how is he going to be monitored in the community? He goes by David Lee Roth.”
“He doesn’t,” Rauch interrupted again.
Di Curzio then explained how, indeed, Kuntz-Angel went into the Long & McQuade store in both Chilliwack and Abbotsford and told staff he was David Lee Roth. She added that in a bail report even he suggested he went by as many as 19 pseudonyms.
His history in this regard is well-documented. A number of newspapers in Ontario including the Toronto Sun, the Globe and Mail and the Brantford Expositor wrote stories about Kuntz-Angel’s strange history impersonating Lee Roth 10 years ago.
During the bail hearing on Jan. 19, Kuntz-Angel appeared exasperated, gesticulating wildly, rolling his eyes and looking around, mouthing frequently to no one in particular, and at one point near tears. His thin, shoulder-length hair was in a pony-tail and he wore glasses with turquoise frames, a second pair of glasses tucked into the collar of his standard pre-trial centre-issued orange sweatshirt.
Di Curzio opposed his release on bail on a number of grounds, including that he goes by multiple names, he is essentially homeless, and immediately allegedly breached last time on bail by lying about a place where he would reside at Cultus Lake upon being released months ago.
A bail report was prepared in which a number of other odd circumstances were presented. For example, he apparently suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after spending more than a year and a half in jail in Los Angeles.
“I’m not sure what he did 19 months for in California,” Di Curzio said.
The alleged victims of Kuntz-Angel are sisters who have expressed serious concern when he was out on bail and on the lam. They reported that he tried to contact them through Facebook and email, something Rauch denied is even possible saying the 52-year-old doesn’t know how to use email or social media.
He is accused of grooming the main complainant over a 10-year period. She was 19 when complaints to police were filed last year. She is 20 now.
Kuntz-Angel is charged with invitation to sexual touching a person under 14 in Chilliwack from 2006, and invitation to sexual touching under 16 in Chilliwack and Hope from 2008. He is also charged with one count of touching a young person for a sexual purpose in Chilliwack in 2013, sexual assault in Vernon in 2014, sexual assault in Chilliwack and Hope in August 2016, and “procuring” in Vernon in November 2016.
There is also one count of assault from Vernon on Oct. 1, 2016, one count of assault causing bodily harm in Chilliwack on Dec. 15, 2016, and one count of uttering threats in Chilliwack on Jan. 1, 2017.
In asking for bail, his lawyer pointed also to the fact that he is essentially homeless as a reason why it was difficult for him to organize his affairs. She was hoping to find a space for him at either the Abbotsford or Chilliwack Salvation Army but neither proved fruitful by Friday.
As to the charge of resisting arrest from Jan. 3 in Abbotsford, Kuntz-Angel has a very different account from the arresting officer.
“He says the officer slipped on the ice and [he] went to help him up,” Rauch said.
After hearing from defence and Crown, Judge Wendy Young denied Kuntz-Angel bail on Jan. 19, remanding him in custody until his scheduled six-day trial in May.
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