Man Arrested for Using Nickelback Drummer’s Identity in Attempt to Buy $25,000 of Music Equipment
A man who allegedly claimed to be Nickelback drummer Daniel Adair has been arrested for trying to purchase $25,000 in music equipment under Adair’s name. 45-year-old Howard Koenig was arrested Feb. 28 on two felony charges of fraud.
This story comes out of Port St. Lucie, Fla., where police were informed by a band security specialist that Daniel Adair “had his identity used to fraudulently order drum parts from a company in Vienna, Austria,” an affidavit said. The order consisted of several microphones as well.
“Essentially, when he placed the order in Austria, I guess at this level of band … you have a lot of people that work for you," Detective Paul Griffith told TC Palm. "One of the people in his group thought it was out of the ordinary when they were getting contacted as to confirming the order.” Another red flag was that Daniel Adair does not actually live anywhere in Florida.
Adair himself actually did some research of his own, eventually finding a Florida musician with the same drum configuration as his — Howard Koenig.
In 2009, Koenig (aka Mr. Wooky) was actually sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to repay $78,000 he fraudulently collected on behalf of the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast. He also had pretended to act on behalf of the Indian Riverkeeper advocacy group, selling space for advertisements in concert programs without ever coming through on the work.
Koenig has been released from St. Lucie County Jail on $18,750 bail.
Nickelback recently gave fans a surprisingly heavy title track from the band’s upcoming Feed the Machine album. A lengthy North American tour has also been planned, so check out the dates here.
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