Joe Francis being arrested "not try to hide at all" · 2007-04-11 15:18
Joe Francis, the founder of the Girls Gone Wild video empire, has surrendered himself to authorities and was taken into custody by federal marshals on Tuesday morning.
Joe Francis was arrested at 6:30 am at the Panama City, Florida airport for a warrant seeking his arrest on the contempt of court charge. Francis is currently being held at the Bay County jail, People magazine reports the U.S. Marshall’s Office said. In conflicting reports, while Francis had told Fox's Geraldo Rivera that he planned to surrender to authorities, it has been reported by People that he was arrested after airport police recognized Francis and arrested him before he could make it to the Marshal's Office.
According to Actress Archives, a judge ordered the arrest of Joe Francis last week after the Girls Gone Wild founder reportedly altered the terms of a settlement deal from a 2003 lawsuit in which seven women had accused Francis of victimizing them.
The seven women filed the charge after they were videotaped in sexual situations while on spring break in Panama City, Florida. As a result of the altered agreement, Francis had been ordered by U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak to surrender to authorities in Panama City by 12:00 pm on Thursday to begin serving his sentenced jail time for contempt of court, though People reports Francis missed the arranged deadline.
On Monday, Joe Francis appeared on Geraldo Rivera's talk show, where the Girls Gone Wild founder said that, "I’m not trying to hide at all."
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