Ex-Cake Drummer Charged with Child Molestation
Former Cake drummer Peter McNeal has been hit with child molestation charges by Los Angeles police. McNeal was busted in L.A. last month and released on $250,000 bail. On Friday, the drummer appeared in court to hear a single felony count against him for oral copulation and sexual penetration of a child under the age of 10.
McNeal, 45, is suspected by the Los Angeles Police Department of previous incidents with other victims, and they are urging the public to help locate other children who may have been sexually assaulted by the musician. McNeal was previously arrested in 2009 on a separate charge of attempted molestation of a young girl, but the status of that case is not clear.
McNeal served as a member of Cake from 2001 to 2004 and has since worked as a session player, appearing on records by Norah Jones and Mike Doughty.
“I was devastated to hear of the arrest,” Doughty told Fox News. “There is nothing in my experience of Pete that indicates he’s a monster. I’m horrified to note that, of course, that’s always what people say. But someone accused of child molestation usually gets labeled as a monster permanently, regardless of what a jury decides. I beg everybody to remember that, even if he’s innocent, and acquitted, this could ruin so much of his life.”
McNeal will be arraigned on February 10th, with pretrial and trial dates to be set afterward.