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Polish death metal band members arrested on kidnapping charges

Singer Rafal "Rasta" Piotrowski of the band Decapitated performs onstage at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Wash.
Singer Rafal “Rasta” Piotrowski of the band Decapitated performs onstage at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Wash.
(Mat Hayward / Getty Images)
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Members of the Polish death metal band Decapitated were arrested by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies on suspicion of kidnapping a woman, authorities said Sunday.

The four men are being held in an L.A. County jail pending extradition to Spokane, Wash., where they allegedly kidnapped the woman after an Aug. 31 concert in that city, authorities said.

The men were arrested early Saturday in Santa Ana after a performance at the Observatory venue, where they were scheduled to play with other bands, including the Australian deathcore group Thy Art Is Murder. The two bands have been touring North America in a series of shows headlined “Double Homicide.”

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The arrested band members are Waclaw Jan Kieltyka, Rafal Tomasz Piotrowski, Hubert Edward Wiecek and Michal Mikolaj Lysejko.

The band members’ lawyer Stephen Graham told a Times reporter that “there was another side” to the story and alleged that the woman came to visit the band on “her own free will.”

He said the band members had offered to surrender to authorities days earlier, but that Spokane police never responded to their offer.

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Adam.Elmahrek@latimes.com

@adamelmahrek

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