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Retrial begins for Fraser Valley’s David Lee Roth impersonator in underage sex case

David Kuntz-Angel convicted in August 2019, granted a mistrial in January, and is now back in court
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David Kuntz-Angel

After being granted a mistrial, the new trial began last week for a Chilliwack man convicted of grooming and having sex with a young girl over a decade.

David Paul Kuntz-Angel, who is known from B.C. to Ontario for pretending to be American rock star David Lee Roth, has been out of custody since he was granted bail on Jan. 31, 2020 in BC Supreme Court in New Westminster without deposit or surety but with some conditions.

• READ MORE: Mistrial declared in Chilliwack’s David Lee Roth impersonator underage sex case

• READ MORE: Chilliwack’s David Lee Roth impersonator to be retried in underage sex case

The long and bizarre case dates back to 2006 when the grooming began and continued until 2016. Witnesses on the stand reported seeing Kuntz-Angel with the young girl as far back as 2007 and as recently as 2016.

He was arrested in late 2017 after being wanted by police. Since then he spent 722 days at Surrey Pretrial, which meant even if he is eventually convicted again, he will be given credit for 1,083 in custody or nearly three years.

He faced 12 charges in total and went through a 20-day trial starting last March after which Justice Neill Brown acquitted Kuntz-Angel of sexual exploitation, sexual assault, assault causing bodily harm, and one count of procuring.

But Justice Brown did convict him of two counts of sexual interference, two counts of invitation to sexual touching, one count each of assault and uttering threats.

Then in November 2019, at what was supposed to be a sentencing hearing, Kuntz-Angel’s lawyer Chantal Paquette applied for a mistrial, citing questions over the mental faculties of Justice Brown.

The case was then put in front of Justice Dev Dley out of Kamloops. Brown’s status was unclear, but a spokesperson for the Supreme Court told The Progress that the case was reassigned pursuant to a section of the criminal code that states this can happen if a judge “dies or is for any reason unable to continue.”

In January, the court ordered the mistrial, he was granted bail and a new trial was scheduled to begin in May but eventually began on June 8 with a voir dire hearing in BC Supreme Court in New Westminster.

Kuntz-Angel has a colourful history going back many years to Brantford, Ontario, where he often pretended to be the Van Halen lead singer, leading to news reports in that province. Indeed it was while on the lam for several months in B.C. in 2017, that his obsession with David Lee Roth led to his arrest, as he went into the Long & McQuade store in both Chilliwack and Abbotsford and told staff he was the American rock singer.

• READ MORE: Chilliwack man charged with sexual misconduct says he was beaten up in jail


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David Lee Roth (left) and the Chilliwack man who for years has impersonated him, David Kuntz-Angel (right). Kuntz-Angel was convicted of the most serious charges he faced involving sex with an underage girl in August 2019, but on Nov. 19, 2019 he applied for a mistrial. His retrial began on June 8, 2020. (Twitter/Brantford Expositor)