Ministry guitarist Sin Quirin has left the band a year after two women alleged that he had sexual relationships with them more than 15 years ago, when they were underage. A spokesperson for the group confirmed to Billboard that Quirin (born Sinhue Quirin) was no longer with the veteran industrial group, echoing a statement he reportedly posted on Facebook on Friday (May 14).
According to multiple reports, Quirin did not address the allegations in his post, but said he was taking time to focus on his health. At press time, it appears the guitarist has taken his social media accounts offline, and the Facebook post is not visible to the public.
Ministry recently revealed the dates for their COVID-delayed Industrial Strength tour, which is now slated to kick off on Oct. 3 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
In a report published in January 2020, two women told Spin magazine that Quirin approached them when they were teens attending performances of Society 1, the band he was in at the time. One woman, Kelly Longoria, alleged she was 15 and he was 33 when they first met and that he began traveling to visit her when she were still in high school. Longoria also claimed Quirin had sex with her numerous times while she was a minor. Longoria included these details in a sworn statement she gave to the San Antonio Police Department in 2017, 15 years after she first met Quirin. (Spin reported that no criminal charges had ever been filed against Quirin based on Longoria’s allegation, citing Longoria saying she had been told by an SAPD officer that a local district attorney had rejected the case because Longoria’s relationship with Quirin continued after she turned 18.)
A second woman also claimed she had sex with Quirin when she was underage, after meeting him at a Society 1 performance in Portland in March 2005, a month after she turned 16. Both women said they made it clear to Quirin that they were minors when they met him.
Through an attorney, Quirin denied to Spin that he ever had sexual contact with Longoria when she was underage, or with any other minor. He acknowledged meeting and exchanging contact information with Longoria in 2002, but stated that he had done so for the purposes of adding her to the mailing list for his pervious band, Society 1, and that any subsequent social encounters happened as a result of Longoria attending concerts.
“Mr. Quirin did not begin visiting Ms. Longoria in San Antonio,” Randolph Ortega, Quirin’s attorney, wrote as part of an emailed statement at the time. “During this time Society 1 was touring heavily in various locations throughout the United States. When the band was in or near the San Antonio area, Ms. Longoria would come to the show as a guest.”
Ortega also denied the allegations by the second woman, “Brooke” — an entertainment industry worker who, Spin reported, had requested anonymity because she feared professional blowback — saying at the time, “Mr. Quirin maintains no recollection of meeting a minor outside a show in Portland. Mr. Quirin denies ever have (sic) any sexual relationship with anyone under the age of majority.”
The attorney — who also represented the industrial group at the time — added to Spin at the time that frontman Al Jourgensen “is unaware of any of potential nefarious activity by any member of Ministry during their respective tenure(s) with the band including but not limited to Mr. Sin Quirin.”
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