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There's an article on my web site, which has a link to a newspapers story.

http://www.rocknation.tv

Here's the link to the newspaper article that started it all:
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/n...al/5581701.htm

I thank Bon Jovi Central for allowing this discussion to take place--it kept getting deleted from the official board, which is as foolish as it is ironic. The BJ camp are in this fix precisely because they tried to cover this up, making them as deserving of criticism as Obie himself.

I have tried to do research to find out when this happened and what Obie was originally charged with, and being a writer, I know where to look. But the article above is the only one that seems to exist. This leads me to believe that considerable pressure was exerted on the media to keep this quiet, and that some kind of plea deal was arranged to avoid a trial (which the victim's family was no doubt also happy about), jail time, and being treated as a sex offender. Since Obie apparently pleaded either guilty or no contest to SOMETHING, exactly what happened between him and the "plaintiff" becomes a bit of moot issue.

Jon has known Obie all his adult life, and I have no doubt that the band wanted to be a "real" friend to him as much as they wanted to protect themselves. But they made a very bad move by trying to bury the whole thing, because NOW they look like they're harboring a criminal, and NOW they look arrogant in asking for the furlough because they wanted to make money. Most ironic of all, they can't blame anyone for the "leak" except themselves. The newspaper story was probably filed by a legal correspondent who'd just happened to be at the courthouse and hadn't "gotten the memo."

And that's why it's best to "tell it all and tell it quick" in these situations. There would have been fireworks, certainly--but they would have died out by now. And maybe Obie wouldn't have to be worried about his future with BJ because he "did the right thing" by "admitting" to his "mistake"!

It's hardest to be a friend when it means saying, "You screwed up." I care about BJ enough to tell them that. It doesn't make me "less"of a fan any more than disagreeing with the government makes you "less" of a patriot.

All this talk of the band trying to "cover something up"...has anyone thought that maybe it's just not the band's concern and doesn't need to be brought up to the entire world? it's not like they are going to make it a Bon Jovi issue. It simply is not. It's an Obie issue.

If the news had a big headline "Bon Jovi's sound engineer charged with statitory rape"...not many would care. It;s not one of the band members. The band is not obligated to defend him or even make a statement.

Let's look at reality here... outside this fan community, who is talking about this? No one. RockNation, you're flat out accusing the band of some sort of sinister cover-up? That they brought this racy scandal on themselves? That's bullshit... the only place anyone is debating or speculating or prosthelatizing or mocking is on this board. And since no one's had the common sense to shut this thread down, it's the one time I agree with the Backstage board. It's an inappropriate topic for them but more importantly, there's zero control among a certain faction of fans to keep it a civil thread. If you want to take the moral high road as a "journalist" try to out a big secret, have fun but this Bon Jovi bubble is not the real world... the more you get outside of these fan communities, the more you realize this. The only place this subject is being discussed, is this site.

The Backstage board didn't shut this topic down because they didn't want anyone to talk about it--they shut it down because they didn't want anyone to KNOW about it! And they wouldn't be afraid of it being a subject of discussion if they thought the band had reacted "appropriately."

I really think the band owes us no explanation. This is Mr. O'Brien's personal behavior for which he has been convicted and is serving time. If a hush hush plea bargain was agreed to to protect both parties when you think about it it would not even be appropriate for Bon Jovi to have made some statement because the girl involved might have been exposed to un wanted press attention. If this were announced you know journalists would have dug into it further. This is not the band's behavior- this is the behavior of an employee and he is not working as a babysitter threatening the public, he is a sound engineer. It is unfortunate that this saw the light of day but I agree that only the Bon Jovi community even cares about this. A band member would be a different story because they are public figures but a behind the scenes employee known only to die hard fans- I think everyone involved deserves their privacy respected.

RockNation, I still think you're totally wrong. You know personally for a fact that the BSWJBJ site shut down the threads because they didn't want anyone to KNOW? Are you sure? Do you work for the fan club? Because if you do, I have ALOT of questions for you and YOU have a lot of 'splaining to do, Ricky... Face it, you're conjecturing and projecting YOUR beliefs onto what reality may be. And your reality may not be the band's or Obie's or anyone elses. You're just pissed because there was "Bon Jovi News" that no one managed to find out about! So that makes it a coverup? The band doesn't owe you an explanation. Obie doesn't owe you an explanation. And face it: the only place these conversations are taking place is in a little online community of Bon Jovi fans. Without even getting into the issue of what legal charges are at hand, the bottom line is this: this is not a big news story. Only among Bon Jovi fans. And the band owes us no more explanation on this topic than on why they do anything in their career.