Knife-wielding, shirtless LA punk band frontman accused of ‘terrorizing trek’ through Yosemite

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

The frontman of an LA punk band called Cancer Christ has been arrested after embarking on a “terrorizing trek” round Yosemite National Park, during which he removed his shirt and threatened several people with a knife.

Anthony Mehlhaff, 40, from Los Angeles, is accused of assaulting two people before driving to the park, where he crashed his car, took off his remaining clothes and stole a bicycle, among other bizarre and dangerous activities.

Mehlhaff faces charges of vandalism, vehicle theft, reckless driving, kidnapping, theft, first-degree burglary, robbery, obstructing an officer and battery. As of Friday he was being held in the Mariposa County Jail on a bail of $100,000.

According to The Los Angeles Times, attempts to reach Mehlhaff by phone went to his personal voicemail, which told law enforcement officers and mental health specialists to “f*** off” and leave him alone.

The wild spree began around 1.45 pm on Wednesday when Mehlhaff approached a pregnant waitress in a local restaurant in Mariposa County. He allegedly touched her stomach and said "the spirits led me to you and your baby belongs to me, and what time is your break because I will be waiting for you."

After stealing several drinks and assaulting another employee of the restaurant, he sped off in his vehicle towards Yosemite National Park, which resulted in multiple reports of a possible car chase, kidnapping, assault, stolen vehicles, and other suspicious circumstances – all occurring near Fish Camp.

Yosemite National Park rangers attempted to stop Mehlhaff on his way into the park but he continued on to the Fish Camp area where he crashed his vehicle and stole a bicycle.

At this point, the sheriff’s office said, he reportedly took off his shirt, handed it to a bystander and said “you’ll want to keep this, I’m going to be famous". According to Spotify, Cancer Christ has just under 4,000 monthly listeners. Their first and only album, God Is Violence, was released earlier this year.

After de-shirting, Mehlaff entered the Tenaya Lodge kitchen through a back door, placed his hat and other items inside a refrigerator, grabbed a knife from the kitchen and began threatening workers, the sheriff’s office said.

He then walked to a creek area near the Tenya Lodge Clubhouse, where he removed his pants, wallet and car keys before returning in his underwear to the clubhouse and telling people to leave.

Mehlhaff then began vandalizing the clubhouse.

He then took the store manager’s car keys and attempted to kidnap the store manager while assaulting him and attempting to force him to drive Mehlhaff out of the area.

After allegedly stealing the store manager’s vehicle, the punk rocker drove down Highway 41 towards Oakhurst where he engaged in “extreme road rage behavior” and rammed a Tesla after making “aggressive hand gestures” at the driver.

He later crashed the stolen vehicle and was taken into custody, after being medically cleared at a local hospital.

While searching Mehlhaff’s vehicle registered to him, an Enola Gay smoke grenade was located inside the door panel. The Merced Bomb Squad was called in to handle the device.

“This is just a glimpse of what we encounter at any given time,” Sheriff Jeremy Briese said in a statement.

“This man drove all around our county terrorizing our visitors and community members.  I am extremely happy that no one was seriously injured, this man’s behavior was erratic and dangerous... I am proud of the work done by our staff and partnerships built that give us the ability to apprehend criminals who continue to harm our communities.”