In a con worthy of Frank Abagnale, Jr.—if Frank Abagnale, Jr was a petty criminal with an affinity for bad-boy frontmen—a 44-year old Los Angeles man apparently convinced the Beverly Hills police department that he was former Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland, a deception that lasted for nearly a month.
Jason Michael Hurley was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting and possession of a controlled substance in a Beverly Hills Rite Aid on July 26. Upon his arrest, Hurley allegedly identified himself as Weiland—an assertion the police apparently believed because they were really drunk at Lollapalooza ’92 and how is anyone supposed to remember this stuff when they don’t play music videos on MTV or VH1 anymore?
Unable to post his $95,000 bail, Hurley then sat in the Los Angeles County Jail for nearly a month. Then TMZ posted a story (since amended) about Weiland’s arrest and subsequent incarceration, leading the real Scott Weiland to come forward and say “actually, guys, I’m not in jail” on his Facebook page last night. It was only then that police actually bothered to fingerprint the alleged Weiland, just to find he was just a run of the mill, non-celebrity arrest—and only after the world heard that Scott Weiland had been jailed for drug possession and shoplifting and thought, “Yeah, that sounds about right.”