Allen West, original guitarist for Florida death metal band Obituary has been charged with methamphetamine production and possession.
Bizarely it was West himself who called the police to his property after two intruders broke into his home. It was during the search that police noticed an acidic odour coming from one of the bedrooms. Upon further investigation, they found equipment and chemicals commonly used in the production of methamphetamine.
All this occured at the end of March but has only just now made the news and become public knowledge.
West was part of Obituary for close to 20 years and last performed with them in 2005. He has been plagued with alcohol issues for most of his career and has faced DUI charges 5 times. The last involving jail time for 8 months in 2007. His last appearance on an Obituary album was the 2005 album Frozen In Time.
While he was part of Obituary, he also formed the side project Six Feet Under with former Cannibal Corpse vocalist Chris Barnes and also his own band Lowbrow which released 2 albums. His sobriety was always an issue and since his legal woes began has drifted off.
Upon police dismantiling his drug lab and taking him into custody, he was held on a $40,000 bond (US dollars), and has since been incarcerated at the Sumter County Jail in Bushnell. Florida.
Friend Chris Barnes took to twitter to express his sadness for his former band mate.
A sad day for an ex SFU guitarist. Get well bro.. thevillagessuntimes.com/article/man-ca…
— Chris Barnes(@sixfeetofficial) May 8, 2013
