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Tuesday, July 27, 1999
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Host of talk show claims threats from former guests
By Carri Geer
Review-Journal
Radio talk show host Art Bell claims two former guests have threatened him and caused him to fear for his safety since he filed a defamation lawsuit against them in May.
Bell obtained temporary protective orders June 21 in Pahrump Justice Court against Colorado resident David John Oates and Montana resident Robert A.M. Stephens.
A justice of the peace is expected to decide Aug. 19 whether those one-month orders will be extended for a year, as Bell has requested.
"Five witnesses have now come forward and described Oates as an angry and potentially mentally ill individual who believes he is Jesus Christ, uses drugs, owns firearms, may have killed in the past, and has repeatedly threatened the physical safety of Bell and threatened to burn down his home," according to one court document Bell filed last week. "Absolutely nothing has changed since this court issued its protective order that would relieve Mr. Bell's fears."
Oates, reached Monday afternoon on his cellular phone as he drove to a lecture in Salt Lake City, emphatically denied the allegations, although he admitted he owns firearms.
"I don't think there's a crime in that in America, is there?" asked Oates, a native of Australia.
Another court document, also filed last week by Bell, claims Stephens has pledged to gather 500 people for a "sit-in" at the talk show host's home in Pahrump.
"In addition, Stephens has continued to post threats and abusive language on the Internet that is directed at Bell," the document alleges.
It further claims Stephens physically abused his ex-wife, who obtained a protective order against him in Montana. Stephens could not be reached for comment Monday.
Oates, who bills himself as a specialist in the field of "reverse speech" -- the analysis of taped speech played backward -- said he was shocked when he learned Bell had obtained a protective order against him. He has asked the court to dissolve it.
"The protective order is absolutely ridiculous," he said. "It's stupid. I never go to Nevada."
Oates claimed Bell sought the orders to bolster his defamation case and garner publicity. He denied threatening Bell either directly or indirectly.
"I have no intentions of doing any harm to Bell," he said.
Bell filed a $60 million lawsuit in May in Los Angeles County Superior Court that accuses Oates and Stephens of slandering him by falsely describing him as a pedophile and child pornographer. Since then, the case has been moved to federal court, and Oates has filed a countersuit against Bell.
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