at 22:25 on November 3, 2007, EDT.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Ozzy Osbourne backstage after the band Black Sabbath was inducted at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame dinner in New York, in this March 13, 2006, file photo. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Stuart Ramson, file


FARGO, N.D. - Ozzy Osbourne wants an apology from the Cass County sheriff for staging a pre-concert sting operation in the rocker's name without his permission.

Osbourne claims his reputation was tarnished when Sheriff Paul Laney invited 500 people with outstanding warrants to a phoney party at a Fargo nightclub before the rocker's concert with Rob Zombie at a nearby arena. More than 30 showed up and were arrested.

"Instead of holding a press conference to pat himself on the back, Sheriff Laney should be apologizing to me for using my name in connection with these arrests," Osbourne said in a statement.

"It is insulting to me and to my audience and it shows how lazy this particular sheriff is when it comes to doing his job," Osbourne said.

Laney said Friday that it's his job to arrest people with outstanding warrants.

"We meant no disrespect toward Mr. Osbourne or his show," Laney said. "What we did was a very creative law enforcement technique to lure individuals who had active criminal warrants to come to us."

He said mentioning Osbourne's name in the invitations was no different than a bar advertising a Super Bowl party by mentioning the teams playing in the game.

Laney said Monday's sting was done to let the community know his office was doing its best to serve about 3,000 outstanding warrants it must deal with.

"They get very creative in how they abscond from the law," the sheriff said of the wanted individuals. "We just got real creative in how we reeled them in," Laney said.

Not everyone is taking the sting personally, Laney said.

"Three people called to say, 'I got one of those letters. Since you're being so creative, I'm turning myself in. Give me a court date,"' Laney said.


©The Canadian Press, 2007