Simone WilsonThere have been varied reactions, today, to the arrest warrant for 10-year Cal State San Bernardino professor Steve Kinzey, who has allegedly been running a monster meth ring with 11 cohorts.
Shock. Awe. Nausea. (His father told the Times: “My son is a Christian. He's a good father of a good little girl. My son doesn't drink. My son doesn't smoke. I don't get it. He's a Ph.D.“
Sheriff's officials have announced that Kinzey is a chapter president for Devils Diciples, an internationally notorious outlaw biker gang whose original turf was the SoCal desert. Among the insane possessions found in an August 26 raid of his home, according to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin:
A pound of meth. Military body armor. Brass knuckles. A sniper rifle. An AP-9 pistol. Leather biker vests. Neo-nazi paraphernalia, including a “black flag with SS bolts.”
Did you see this at the front of kinesiology class?
Now you see why the FBI has been referring to him, over a six-month investigation, as the “Devil's Professor.”
He's kind of a dream prof, in a way: Kinesiology by day, “Sin City”-worthy adventures by bleary-eyed night. But a man can only hold two intensive jobs on opposite ends of the moral spectrum for so long, it seems. [Update: The Atlantic Wire notes that Kinzey often used his Twitter account to post excuses for being late to class, ranging from his dad's health issues to an “unexpected phone call.”]
A couple Cal State San Bernardino students on RateMyProfessor.com noticed something was wrong as far back as April, halfway into the FBI's investigation:
Credit: Beatriz Valenzuela via Twitter
Before that, his ratings had been mainly stellar, calling him a “cool cat” and saying that although “he might seem like a very tough guy… that is just the outside. You show him respect and you have a friend for life. He will help you until you get it.”
A young woman who says she had Kinzey for undergrad classes Tweets that she's “surprised… but not THAT surprised.”
From the Daily Bulletin:
Detectives said they are trying to determine if Kinzey sold drugs at the university. …“He's smarter than the average dealer,” said Rosenbaum. “He was doing what he could to keep it under wraps.”
We may have a lead, in that regard: Though it was probably a joke, one RateMyProfessor user wrote “Thanks for the meth” earlier today. (It has since been deleted.) But other loyal students quickly ran to his defense:
Did you know the moonlighting professor? Ever take a class? Does his alter-ego come as a surprise to you, or was it clear something was up? Let us know.
[@simone_electra/swilson@laweekly.com]
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