Over the last couple of decades, Wes Scantlin has had more than his fair share of legal issues. He’s been arrested over a dozen times (with the most recent being in March 2025) for various reasons, including trespassing, felony domestic violence, attempting to board a plane with a BB gun, and taking a joyride on a baggage carousel at Denver International Airport.
Last year, Scantlin was even involved in a SWAT standoff after being pulled over and refusing to exit his vehicle – resulting in him being pepper sprayed and pepper balled by authorities.
He also made headlines earlier this year after a disastrous concert at Daytona Bike Week. The Puddle of Mudd frontman blamed his poor performance on an ex-bandmate, claiming that the bassist slipped him roofies before the gig.
Despite all of this, in a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk,” Scantlin insists that his run-ins with the law have been blown out of proportion.
“Yeah. [My] main goal [is] just [to] stay out of trouble,” he said when asked if he has put his legal troubles behind him. “And I really seriously don’t really do that much wrong things. I really just don’t. But I’m like a big fish in the little pond. I call myself a Christmas dinner trophy for the Po-po. I wonder how many times they’ve explained that they arrested me at their Christmas dinner, at Christmas day. I’m telling you, man. I’m just a big, huge trophy.”
He continued: “I’ve made some mistakes, but at certain points I could breathe in the wrong direction and get cuffed and slammed in a dungeon. Shoot, man. It’s weird. My whole thing, my whole motto is turn around and run for your life as fast as you possibly can, man.”
Scantlin then clarified that he wasn’t referring to running away from the police. “I’m talking about maybe like a girlfriend or something [not the police]. If they hit the ‘psycho wall,’ as I call it — turn around and run… Somebody’s gotta go down, and they usually pick me, ’cause I’m the trophy. But my motto is turn around and run as fast as you can and just run.”
