'Girls Gone Wild' boss won't surrender

AP via Yahoo! ^ | 4/5/7

[SmithL]

PENSACOLA, Fla. - The founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" videos defied a federal judge Thursday, calling him a "judge gone wild" and refusing to surrender to U.S. marshals on a contempt citation.

U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak ordered Joe Francis into custody after settlement negotiations soured in a lawsuit brought by seven women who were minors when Francis' company filmed them on Panama City Beach.

The 34-year-old Francis, who makes an estimated $29 million a year through the videos of girls exposing their breasts, drew the contempt order Wednesday after lawyers for the women said Francis threatened them during negotiations.

Francis told The Associated Press late Thursday that Smoak "had lost his mind."

"This judge has gone as far as to call me the devil and an evildoer," he said. "It is a case of a judge gone wild."

Francis' attorneys appealed the order that would send him to jail; the court had not issued an opinion Thursday evening. Smoak denied a request by Francis to stay the order pending the appeal.

Smoak refused requests for comment Thursday.

[Oztrich Boy]

Yeah he’s in this mess because many of them are minors. This guy needs to lose it all , lock him away .

And here was I thinking that blame lay on people willing to let their minor children wander Panama City topless.

[Hugin]

Apparently most of the people commenting on this thread either didn't the story or have little knowledge about the legal system in this country. First, this guy is not up on criminal charges. This is a civil lawsuit, not a criminal prosecution. The judge issued a contempt order. You don’t go to prison for contempt of court, though you might go to jail. Then again the judge' contempt order could be vacated on appeal. Anyway a guy who is worth hundreds of millions and parties with Snoop Dog isn't going to have any problems making friends if he did land in jail for a few days. Hell, he would be a celeb.

[Constantine XIII]

DON'T FEED TEH TROLLZ!!!one

[ReignOfError]

calling him a "judge gone wild"

Did he pound drinks and then lift his robe?

Interesting cases make bad law, as the saying goes. And the one worthwhile thing Larry Flynt did in his useless life was being loathsome enough to press the question of how far the First Amendment extends.

Joe Francis doesn't rise even to the low bar set by Larry Flynt. If he sold pictures of naked girls who were not of age, then there's a small room with tiny windows waiting for him. And good riddance.

[bpjam]

Too bad Janet Reno can’t be deputized and convinced the this p.o.s. is harboring a Cuban refugee orphan so she can send in the armed stormtroopers to extract him. (my apologies to the stormtroopers who have to receive idiotic orders like these).

[rbosque]

What? No pics of the girls???

[Larry Lucido]

And here was I thinking that blame lay on people willing to let their minor children wander Panama City topless.

Yeah, but none of them have $29 million dollars.

[Finalapproach29er]

He’s a cultural polluter.

Ick.

[Larry Lucido]

I used to think the commericals were entertaining, but would never have parted with $29.95 for something I can get free with “safe search off.” When Snoop Dog started showing his ugly face in the commercials, it was remote control time.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Illegal aliens ignore the law, why shouldn’t he?

[Draco]

You guys are prudes. Great video. If the girls want to shake their booty's [sic] on video to [sic] bad for them when the get married and their kids find em’ [sic] heh heh. It is known as consequences. Besides that is what girls are for to entertain the guys:-). Ain’t capitalism great. Gosh, my friend, before you call anyone a prude and make yourself out to be an expert on female anatomy, you should learn about what you are talking about. The word "booty" does not refer to the female breast. Where have you been studying African-American slang? Harvard? Check out the Oxford American dictionary or Wikipedia or any African American compendium of slang. As a man you should be ashamed for confusing "booty" with "boobs" or "boobies," which, as you apparently don't know, means "female breasts." You have either had too much of the Jack Daniels or you need some remedial courses in English and especially sexual physiology. Freepers are prudes you say? Heck, at least most Freepers know the difference between a buttock and a breast, particularly and importantly the female variant of those structures. Don't "diss" Freepers. Don't know what "diss" means either? Look it up, bro. Prudes, sheesh.

[Howlin]

LOL!

I once saw a show about some gay guys redecorating this guy’s house down in Mexico.

I couldn’t decide who was fruitier.

[Hugin]

The fact that there is no criminal prosecution here suggests that there is probably no criminal case. I would imagine a guy smart enough to creat a multi-million dollar soft-core porn empire is smart enough to get good legal advice to cover his ass. I remember the case of the Mitchell Bros in San Francisco who were arrested for having underage girls in their (hard-core) porn flicks. The charges were thrown out when they produced photo-copies of the fake IDs the girls gave them when they applied for the job. Now if these various underage girls are out drinking and exposing themselvs, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were using fake IDs as well.

[fieldmarshaldj]

"What? No pics of the girls???"

Smile pretty for the camera, honey !

[It's me]

NO WAY!!

I saw an episode on Law & Order (I think) that was exactly this! (Except someone died) I thought, no way would girls be that stupid.

I guess I am the stupid one!

[It's me]

He is one sick puppy.

[willyd]

More like Grills Gone Wild on that pic...lol

[Bobalu]

This guys videos are sophomoric and pretty harmless.

If you have seen 5mins of one of them you have seen them all.

[PLMerite]

“The word “booty” does not refer to the female breast.”

Well, it doesn’t *now*, but I remember when a woman would hide money in her brassiere it would be called the “booty bank.”

And I had to explain to someone recently that “booty” used to mean pirate treasure.

[Triggerhippie]

I'll bet some FReepers and their spouses are so prudish that they have never seen each other naked!

I'll bet that some FReepers are so prudish that they wear bathing suits in the shower. This also helps keep them from looking down on the unemployed...