Chicago-born Alternative artist Willis Earl Beal spent the last two weeks in a jail in Portland, Oregon, as he was serving a two-week sentence.
Beal was arrested in the early morning hours of the 23rd of July 2015, and was released from jail on August 4, 2015, according to Spin. Consequence of Sound – citing Spin – reports that the musician had been charged with “criminal mischief and harassment charges.”
And while, the circumstances surrounding his actual arrest have not been fully verified at this time, Mecca Normal’s Jean Smith took to Twitter, writing, “From what I’ve read on [Facebook] this stems from a broken window at a club.”
Is Willis Earl Beal still in jail?
From what I've read on FB this stems from a broken window at a club. Like,… http://t.co/kAKO2EoOUP
— Jean Smith (@MeccaNormal) August 4, 2015
A representative for Beal told Spin, “assumptions are correct,” when asked about the speculation via Facebook that Smith was tweeting.
A YouCaring Drive was launched to raise money for Beal’s release, and that page stated, “All great artists have a crazy night every now and then. That doesn’t mean they deserve to be in jail for an indefinite amount of time,” according to Consequence of Sound.
The YouCaring page associated with Beal has been taken down; so, clicking onto links provided by Spin and Consequence of Sound will lead to an error message denying access to those without proper authorization. Beal has been released and is free, his representative confirmed to Spin.
In related news, Beal will be releasing a new album, Noctunes, on August 28th, 2015, via Tender Loving Empire. When he announced the new album, Beal released a new song, “Flying So Low,” and he has gone on to put out another new song called, “Survive.” Noctunes will be released on Tender Loving Empire, as Beal parted ways with his previous label, XL’s Hot Charity imprint, in 2014.