Monday, August 22, 2022

Robert Rinehard

 

It probably wouldn't surprise you to learn that Robert Rinehard wasn't really Robert Rinehard. Other than the picture of him standing with a sad Charles Manson as both were arrested in the Spahn Ranch Raid of August 16 1969 next to nothing is known about him.

Rinehard was the Straight Satan that was sent to the ranch to fetch Danny DeCarlo and take him back to the Satan's clubhouse.

The blog has been able to obtain Rinehard's rap sheet and it reveals his true name as well as another alias he used. I think the reason Rinehard looked he looked like he did in that picture with Manson is because he knew his goose was cooked.




Rinehard was Robert Stanley Wotisky and an escapee from California's Chino State Prison. He had escaped on February 3 1969. He was there on a second-degree burglary charge out of Los Angeles County and given a sentence of 6 months to 15 years. 

Robert Wotisky was born in Illinois July 21 1939 but grew up in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. He had two older sisters and two older brothers according to the 1940 and 1950 censuses. His parents' names were George and Caroline Wotisky.

Robert's criminal history began in Pennsylvania back in 1956 with an auto theft charge. He had a number of arrests and convictions under the name of Wotisky. A lot of those charges were for burglary. In 1965 he was sentenced 6 months to 23 1/2 months in a Pennsylvania prison. After his release he came to California and started using the name Robert Dovell.

Wotisky aka Dovell came to the attention of California authorities in 1967. He was shot and wounded by a Monrovia police officer while making a hasty retreat from the scene of a robbery. Since his rap sheet shows that this was simply an inquiry and not an arrest. It's possible that law enforcement did not want the burden of his medical bills and let him off any charges.


He was arrested once in 1968 under the Dovell name for drugs and once in his Wotisky name for burglary, the charge that landed him in Chino.

Wotisky was married and had two children at the time of the raid. His wife was pregnant with their third child. I'm not sure what happened to him immediately after the Raid but since he had escaped from prison his fingerprints were no doubt in the system. He was likely sent back to prison to serve out the rest of his sentence. His wife had their third child in January 1970 back in Pennsylvania. She had returned to California by 1974.

In 1974 Wotisky was at home with his family, in the early hours of June 24th when an explosion rocked his neighborhood. His next-door-neighbor's home had a natural gas leak and the house exploded. Wotisky and his wife went to the window to see what had happened when a second explosion went off. That explosion injured both of them and Wotisky lost sight in one eye.


Apparently Wotisky could not live with losing his sight and other injuries. A little more than six months after the explosion he committed suicide January 17 1975 in Ventura County by an overdose of barbiturates, according to his death certificate. He was 35 years old. He is buried in Ivy Lawn Cemetery in Ventura California.

His wife, on behalf of the children, filed a wrongful death lawsuit asking for $4 million.




27 comments:

Loegria15 said...

His dob is 7-21-39, as shown on the first page of his rap sheet.

I'm guessing your finger slipped. :)

And I remember that photo from "Helter Skelter" the book, that's exactly what I thought of his expression too.

DebS said...

Loegria, thanks, yes it was a typo. All fixed!

G. Greene-Whyte said...

whoa

Buntline II said...

Another brilliant find, Deb. Great stuff!

Loegria15 said...

DebS, you're welcome; I have the soul of a 1930s' copy editor. It's my late mom's birthday, btw.

Doug said...

Off Topic buuuut -

From Brian Wilson today...

"Today in 1977, Dennis Wilson released his only studio album, “Pacific Ocean Blue.” Pitchfork described it as “a raw, bluesy masterpiece of ocean-worshipping psychedelia” and the album is now referred to as a classic. Said Brian in his 2016 memoir: “After Dennis died, people used to ask me all the time what I thought about his solo record, Pacific Ocean Blue. I have said that I never heard it, that I won't listen to it, that it’s too many sad memories and too much for me. That’s sort of true, but not really. I know the music on it. I was around for much of the time in the mid-'70s when Dennis was cutting the record. I loved what he was doing. My favorite song that he ever made was "You and I" – I love that cut. But I haven't ever put the record on and listened through it the way I have with other records, or the way that other people have with that record.”

Chris d butcher said...

I am always intrigued by Dennis' comment about being responsible for the creation of The Family.

grimtraveller said...

Chris d butcher said:

I am always intrigued by Dennis' comment about being responsible for the creation of The Family

I'm not ! 🤐

TabOrFresca said...

Thanks for sharing this info on Rinehard and the recent Knox and Gleason documents.

One thing that seems to be common with the Straight Satans is “Married with children “.

There is a Spahn Ranch Raid photo of Rinehard that I like, but it was early in the raid and is somewhat dark. One of the girls is helping Rinehard with his hat. I’m not sure but I think that he’s wearing a wedding band.

The photo is on cielodrive.com (aways down on this link):

http://www.cielodrive.com/spahn-ranch-photo-archive.php

This link may directly show an equivalent:

https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/30530397_1689281827774492_8660607711919996928_n.jpg?stp=cp0_dst-jpg_e15_fr_q65&_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=2d5d41&_nc_ohc=km4CfSZx6DkAX9VMLdn&_nc_oc=AQngNzdPR2armo9rgvnLj4lFMPiMNY7N7eHuXSMGKMc-kLGgqJjVC98hWNMaWlN32Zw37CtKWp2kJ-_t5O3kr7nW&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=00_AT-aQVGl92pBZiihXKS2E3f9OjsEZUnxRLWyGgRq7z4qCQ&oe=632B7EF9

Buntline II said...

I like that Rinehard had a "Very Interesting" metal badge/pin on his Straight Satans jacket (which authentically has M and C in the devil's eyes).

Apparently, it's a reference to Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203005877676

Doug said...

Artie!!!

orwhut said...

Was it here that someone said the Straight Satans were eventually absorbed by the Hells Angels? I pick up bits and pieces of information and forget where I saw it.

Peter said...

Was it here that someone said the Straight Satans were eventually absorbed by the Hells Angels?


George Nitrini, please call your office.

DebS said...

orwhut, the Satan's Slaves patched over to the Hells Angels, you can find that info on

https://onepercenterbikers.com/list-of-one-percenters-motorcycle-clubs/

The above site does not list the Straight Satan's. I recall reading somewhere that they disbanded because even the Hells Angels did want to be associated with them due to some of the members, talking to the police, testifying for the grand jury and at the TLB trial. But don't quote me on that because like you I can't remember where I read it.

Maybe Grim will remember.

grimtraveller said...

DebS said:

I recall reading somewhere that they disbanded because even the Hells Angels did not want to be associated with them due to some of the members, talking to the police, testifying for the grand jury and at the TLB trial. But don't quote me on that because like you I can't remember where I read it

I've read that too, somewhere. But I can't remember where. I think it's in our archives here somewhere though. It might even have come from Mario the third. Stranger things have happened !

orwhut said...

Deb and Grim,
Thank you. I probably had the two clubs confused.

Doug said...

I was revisiting an older post that was originally posted in 2012 and the comments section is a treasure trove of 1% SoCal biker banter. Friends, family, alleged bikers, neighbors of alleged bikers, etc...

The comments continue through to somewhat recent times. A lot of REAL names and claims are strewn throughout.

Pretty interesting but, one wonders if anything is legit. I kinda felt like some of it could very well be legit..especially comments from friends of the blog who have drifted away from the current discussion and, some people who seemed to be trying to get some kind of tangible Information and, momentos and/or photos of people that are dear to them.

Check it out

https://www.mansonblog.com/2012/11/satans-slaves-motorcycle-club.html?m=1

Mario George Nitrini 111 said...

Everyone.
In this Manson blog-post
⬇️
https://www.mansonblog.com/2019/03/did-pj-tate-suspect-blowback.html?m=1
is where you can read about the Satan Slaves M/C patching over and becoming a charter member of the Hell's Angels.

And let me say this:
Ms H. Allegra Lansing has been doing a series on her YouTube channel pertaining to a former Straight Satan member JD.
JD has talked about some specific "things" that very few people would know about unless a person has experienced them first-hand.
And I have experienced several "things" JD has talked about
first-hand.
JD IS THE REAL DEAL.....

Mario George Nitrini 111
-------
The OJ Simpson Case

Peter said...

Tolt u George would know.

CieloDrive.com said...

About as real deal as a phishing scam

Matt said...

Cielodrive.com said...
About as real deal as a phishing scam


word-up



Buntline II said...

Reading an old blog post, one commenter says that Rhinehard was known as "Bobby D". The Robert Dovell alias in the arrest document would appear to support that.

https://www.mansonblog.com/2016/01/the-following-is-exchange-between.html

Buntline II said...

Or maybe he was thinking of Robert Driscoll?

DebS said...

Buntline II said...
Or maybe he was thinking of Robert Driscoll?
---------

Bo Bushnell believes that Rinehard was Robert Driscoll. I'm not sure if he thinks Driscoll was another alias or if he believes Driscoll was Rinehard's true name. I do not believe that Bushnell had the benefit of having seen Wotisky's rap sheet. Rap sheets don't lie because the true names and aliases are confirmed by finger prints. The rap sheet posted goes only as far as the August 16, 1969 raid. It doesn't contain any aliases Wotisky may have used after that.

Robert Driscoll was charged with the June 19, 1971 murder of Robert William Luce. I have been told that ultimately the charge was manslaughter. There are no newspaper articles beyond a July 13, 1971 article so I don't know if Driscoll was convicted nor how much time he got assuming he was convicted.

If Wotisky received minimal time for the escape and finishing up his sentence that he escaped from I suppose he could have gotten out in time to have joined back up with the Straight Satans and killed Luce using the alias of Robert Driscoll. But I have to wonder why he wouldn't have been charged in his true name. It's not like law enforcement didn't know who he was.

Then assuming Driscoll/Rinehard/Wotisky was convicted he couldn't have served much prison time because the house explosion happened June 25, 1974 and Wotisky was dead by January 17, 1975. It's not totally out of the question that Wotisky used the alias of Robert Driscoll but there are a lot of ifs and assumptions to that scenario. In the first house explosion article Wotisky was referred to as Robert Dovell, too.

The aliases of Dovell and Driscoll are similar in that they both begin with a D and end with two L's.

Vera Dreiser said...

Zzzzzz.Somebody's good at ancestry, so, zzzzzz.Twats drier and turning to stone.

Buntline II said...

I wondered if Driscoll was the same man, but then there's this photo, which is allegedly Driscoll with Robert Trout (Duke) - https://www.instagram.com/p/CNoa9hphx4M/?hl=en


Vera - you should see a doctor about that.

DebS said...

Robert Driscoll has a full head of hair. Robert Rinehard/Wotisky is naturally bald with just the fringe. I don't see how they can be the same person.