Posted on 09/16/2006 10:11:39 AM PDT by Hannibal Hamlin
Television bounty hunter Dog Chapman set free on bail in Hawaii
By Associated Press
Saturday, September 16, 2006 - Updated: 12:08 PM EST
HONOLULU - TV reality star Duane “Dog” Chapman and two co-stars accused of illegal detention and conspiracy in the bounty hunters’ capture of a cosmetics company heir in Mexico posted bail and were released Friday.
Chapman was released on $300,000 bail after spending the night in a federal detention center and his co-stars on the popular A&E show “Dog The Bounty Hunter” were freed on $100,000 bail each.
Chapman, his son, Leland Chapman, and associate Timothy Chapman, no relation, were arrested Thursday on charges stemming from the capture of Max Factor heir Andrew Luster on June 18, 2003, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, officials said.
Chapman’s capture of Luster, who had fled the country during his trial on charges he raped three women, catapulted the 53-year-old bounty hunter to fame and led to the reality series on A&E. Luster is now serving a 124-year prison term.
Bounty hunting is considered a crime in Mexico, and charges have been pending against the three since local police in Mexico arrested them shortly after they roped in Luster. They posted bail but never returned for their court hearing in July 2003, officials said.
Chapman made the sign of the cross and mouthed “I love you” to his wife, who was sitting in the front row of the crowded courtroom.
The men are now required to wear electronic monitoring devices until they return to court for extradition hearings to face trial in Mexico. The judge said they were not flight risks.
Chapman and his tattooed crew were ordered to surrender their passports, to stay in Hawaii and not possess any firearms.
Defense attorney Brook Hart, who successfully argued during the 1-hour, 10-minute hearing that his clients have no reason to be locked up, called the devices “overkill” but did not object to their use.
“It’s ironic that the bounty hunter would go around with a bracelet while arresting people. But so be it,” he said. Reporters and fans packed the courtroom, and several supporters held signs outside the federal courthouse saying, “Let go our hero” and “In Dog we Trust.” A&E TV crews were filming the events for a future episode of Chapman’s show. “Our whole family likes Dog. He captures people who do wrong. Plus my older sister wants to marry Leland,” said 11-year-old Shannon McNamara, of Los Angeles, who was wearing a Bounty Hunter shirt.
Chapman’s son Leland, 29, and Timothy Chapman, 41, assist him in exploits chronicled for the TV show around the Hawaiian Islands. The show focuses on Chapman’s family as much as the bounty hunting, which generally involves tracking down bail jumpers, often creating emotional scenes with repentant captives.
A member of a biker gang as a young man, Chapman was convicted in 1977 of being an accessory to murder and sentenced to five years in prison.
I said Mexican justice system. Voting has noting to do with the corrupt "justice" system down in Mexico.
What redirection? I'm stating that the Mexican voting system is way less corrupt than say Detroit or Philadelphia.
That quashes your arguement that everything in Mexico is more corrupt than the US.
No, not all of them. That's a baited statement because it would take 100% of them to be "scum of the earth" for it to be wrong.
It's probably just the ones I have encountered that are "scum of the earth" and I'm probably the only one in the whole world who has encountered these exceptions to the rule and caused this bad impression.
Let's all get politically correct so we can avoid this kind of thing. /sarc
"It is the double standard"
Darn right, our government should let Mexico know. It's time they stop harboring criminals from the US. When the Mexican government begins to act like they want to clean up their country, them we have have more respect for them.
Now they sit back and watch hundreds of Mexicans cross the border illegally, probably half of them criminal drug dealers, and do nothing to stop it. Makes me mad!
I'll say it, too...."Everything in Mexico IS more corrupt than the U.S."
Time for you to either join the reality based community or stop taking payments from the Mexican government to act as their PR flack. Read "Cauldron of Blood" by Jim Schulte on the murder of Texas student Mark Kilroy in Mexico and the coverup by corrupt Mexican politicians and cops and for in depth studies in corruption, read "Poso del Mundo" by Ovid Demaris on Mordida in Mexico.
In Cauldron of Blood, Mexican Voodoo doctors hacked their victims (known to include at least one American) apart with machetes and poured the blood into a cauldron known as a "Nganga" to get favors from Satan. Mexican cops and politicians knew this was going on, but turned a blind eye to these crimes until Texas law enforcement cracked down on Mexico. It turned out that high level Mexican politicians and justice officials participated in Voodoo ceremonies, including the Mayor of Mexico City, for years.
These are the people you would send Dog back to for Justice?
Drop the charges against Dog
Many "bounty hunters," BTW, are also illegal drug users/dealers.
Once more our "nation of laws" bull$hit.
only their officials..
Given what you wrote, I think Chapman needs to apply to the U.S. Consulate for asylum.
They are pi**ed becasue the rich rapist would have paid them a lot of "protection" money over the years to stay out of Jail and Dog ruined it for them.
I am happy that I can agree with you on something!
"would have been acquitted or given a minor fine"
People tend to disappear from Mexican jails, especially if they have money. I can't say that I blame him for not going back.
At least now there is enough publicity to protect him since so many people will be watching.
On one point I do agree with you, Tit for Tat... we have to send him back or the little cooperation we DO get from them (Mexicans) will dwindle.
I paid for my own god damned retirement, thank you very much.
My point was not that Dog is in imminent danger of being turned over to a Mexican Voodoo doctor, my point was that (high level) corruption in Mexico is well known. Certain posters are trying to deny or minimize this well known information. The Voodoo (or Santeria) types would kidnap their own victims off the street, not from Mexican jails.
Demaris discusses in his book what he saw in Mexican jails, the justice system, and Mexican drug dealers - a high profile American like Dog will have his (and his relatives) net worth carefully measured. Then the cops, lawyers, and judge (and fellow inmates) will extract as much of it (or all) as they can. As Demaris points out in his book, in a Mexican jail, nothing is free. If the mexicans could sell the meat, they would chop you up for tacos.
Please help me out here. Are you a politician or did you take this personally for some other reason?
Just about all of us retirees on this forum have financed most if not all of our retirement ourselves and many more have paid far more into Social Security than we will ever live long enough to get back.
I think the post referred to the huge retirement packages politicians receive, and not the rest of us who pay our own bills.
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