Weirdly Fascinating: The Girls Gone Wild Saga
Author: AF Duncan
December 19th, 2007
If you have a second and want to read something nutty, consider the kind of insane legal saga of Joe Francis, the creator of Girls Gone Wild, who is currently in jail on a tangled web of multiple charges that include civil suits, tax evasion, and “introducing contraband into a detention facility.”
Mr. Francis’s troubles started nearly five years ago when he included Panama City Beach, a Panhandle city of white-sand beaches on the Gulf of Mexico, in a highly publicized pay-per-view event from three Spring Break locations. “Girls Gone Wild” camera crews, who usually film college women at bars, parking lots, hotel rooms and other party hangouts, had been to Panama Beach City before, but in 2003 they arrived with unusual hoopla.
Mayor Sullivan took exception and law enforcement officials cracked down on acts of lewd behavior, which interfered with the filming. Mr. Francis sued the officials, claiming violation of his First Amendment rights, and got them to settle and back down. But Mr. Francis and some of his crew were arrested when the father of one of two women filmed in a shower scene at the hotel room the filmmakers had rented contacted the county sheriff’s office, saying the girls were minors.
The officials came down hard: They confiscated Mr. Francis’s Ferrari and private jet, announcing cocaine had been found on the plane. Mr. Francis was charged with more than 70 counts, including racketeering, drug trafficking, prostitution and promoting the sexual performance of children.
A judge ended up throwing out all but six of the criminal counts, which revolve around the use of minors in a sexual performance, because of a flawed search warrant. And as it turned out, no cocaine was found on the plane.
The best part of this article, by far, is the testimonial from Quincy Jones. Bonus wtf points!
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One Response to “Weirdly Fascinating: The Girls Gone Wild Saga”







December 19th, 2007 at 7:14 am
The guy is slime. I hope he goes away for a good long time.