Static-X Guitarist Charged With Kidnapping & Sexual Assault

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A 39-year-old Pen Argyl native who went on to fame as a heavy metal guitarist was charged last week with sexually assaulting a New Jersey teenager he met over the Internet.

Now authorities are investigating whether Tod R. Salvador, who uses the stage name Tripp Eisen for the band Static-X, may have targeted other young girls online.

Salvador, of Burbank, Calif., was arrested Thursday in Orange County, Calif., by two detectives from New Jersey, authorities said. The assault allegedly happened last month in Old Bridge Township, Middlesex County.

Salvador is charged with kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, luring to entice a minor through the Internet and endangering the welfare of a child. If convicted he faces a maximum of 30 years in prison on the kidnapping charge alone.

''We've confiscated several computers to examine them to see if there are other victims,'' Lt. Kevin Rehmann of the New Jersey State Police told the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick. ''We suspect there may be in several other states.''

A man who answered the door at Salvador's home in Pen Argyl on Sunday would not comment.

Static-X formed in the late 1990s and is regarded as one of the most popular groups to emerge from what is known as the nu-metal scene. After leaving the band Dope, Salvador joined Static-X in 2001, three years after its debut album, ''Wisconsin Death Trip,'' went gold, selling half a million copies.

Static-X performed at Musikfest in Bethlehem in 2003 to mixed reviews from the musicians and the audience. Musikfest's normal fan base wasn't accustomed to Static-X's industrial goth, and the band was more used to its fans banging their heads and slamming into each other in a mosh pit than watching and drinking in silence.

''The guy next to you is not going to start laughing at you if you get up and start moving ?,'' the band's singer, Wayne Static, yelled at the crowd.

Authorities said Salvador met the 14-year-old Sayreville girl, a fan of Static-X, over the Internet in October. During e-mail exchanges, he allegedly told the teen that he liked to impersonate the guitarist for Static-X, police said.

Then in January, while on an extended holiday visit at his parents' Pen Argyl home, Salvador allegedly drove to Middlesex County to meet the girl.

The girl agreed to have sex with Salvador in a truck parked in a shopping center parking lot, Lt. Robert Weiss of the Old Bridge Police Department told the Asbury Park Press. The girl's mother later contacted police, Weiss told the newspaper.

Salvador also was arrested Feb. 10 in California after authorities there found him sleeping in a parked car with an underage girl. He was charged in that case with committing a lewd act with a child and was released after posting $100,000 bail.

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