does this look like a man who would beat up his own mom?

We know now that Pentagram will be touring Europe as a trio, after having finished out their US tour as one. It was announced as their four-date east coast tour kicked off last month that frontman Bobby Liebling was unable to perform  “as a direct result of Bobby Liebling’s personal actions,” and not much more information was given, other than a paragraph about addiction at the bottom of their statement. Earlier today, we found out that he was in a “detention facility” in Maryland, and now we might now why.

MetalSucks got an anonymous tip from a reader that looked at some public records available from Maryland Judiciary, and, well, they’re unfortunate. Lieveling was arrested on April 10th on four charges: one for first degree assault, a count of physical abuse against a vulnerable adult and two counts of abuse against a vulnerable adult that’s a family member. That family member, while not named, may well be Liebling’s 86 or 87 year-old mother, Diane Liebling. Former Pentagram drummer Gary Isom made several posts on Facebook, including one on April 13th that read:

“Thoughts and prayers sent out to Mrs. Diane Liebling… I don’t care for Bobby but his mother is a super sweet lady.”

Several weeks later, he posted a second post that might have been about Liebling:

“What do you guys think about high-profile celebrities committing acts of domestic violence and getting away with it because there is a lot of money at stake and their careers could possibly somewhat ruined because of it? should they be treated differently? Should acts of domestic violence just be swept under the rug like it never happened further enabling the aggressor Or should they be exposed and properly delt with to the fullest extent of the law?”

If the band’s doing well as a trio, and any of this turns out to be true, they may be better off continuing as a trio. As iconic a frontman as Liebling is, it’s worth not tarnishing their image further having a frontman that not only beat up an 87 year-old woman, but his own mother as well.