Creed frontman Scott Stapp believes the CIA trained him for a mission to assassinate President Obama, family members claim in a 911 call to get help for the singer.
The emergency call was made by the singer’s wife and sister-in-law as a bare-chested Mr. Stapp rode a bicycle through his neighborhood, carrying a knapsack full of federal documents he found online, entertainment website TMZ reported Friday.
“He thinks he’s part of the CIA. He thinks they’re trying to kill them and he has paperwork in his backpack that he’s a CIA agent and he’s supposed to assassinate Obama,” one of the women tells the 911 dispatcher.
The women say that Mr. Stapp has a long history of mental illness and that they love him and want him to get help, but they’re afraid he needs to hit “rock bottom” before he will stop self-medicating for schizophrenia.
Meanwhile, Mr. Stapp had also called the authorities, accusing his wife, Jacklyn, of stealing his truck, TMZ reported.
When police finally caught up with Mr. Stapp, he said the real reason for his wife’s 911 call was that he had just accused her of stealing $6 million from him. Authorities eventually determined he did not exhibit enough signs of mental instability to prompt them to institute a psychiatric hold, according to TMZ.
In late November, the singer posted a 15-minute video online in which he claimed the IRS was preventing him from accessing his bank account.
“Right now, I’m living in a Holiday Inn, by the grace of God, because there’s been a couple of weeks where I had to live in my truck,” he said in the video, The Associated Press reported. “I had no money, not even for gas or food. … Eight weeks ago, I began an audit of not only my record company, but my personal finances. During the course of that audit, a lot of things were uncovered. A lot of money was stolen from me, or royalties not paid, and that’s when all hell began to break loose.”
Creed has sold an estimated 40 million albums worldwide and won the Grammy for best rock song for “With Arms Wide Open” in 2001.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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