Anyone could tell this guy was a complete tool by his actions, but this is just too funny! How much of an idiot do you have to be to dig yourself a hole this deep?


From WJHG News Channel 7:

Girls Gone Wild Founder Has Problems in the Bay County Jail Overnight

Girls Gone Wild Founder Joe Francis, lodged in the Bay County Jail in Panama City on a federal contempt of court charges, has additional problems on his hands today.

News Channel Seven has learned Francis is being investigated on allegations of attempted bribery charges, introduction of contraband into a correctional facility and possession of controlled substance.

Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen says Francis allegedly tried to bribe a correctional officer with $100 last night for a bottle of water. This sparked an internal search of his jail cell which reportedly turned up $700 in cash, all in $100 bills, some pills thought to be controlled substances.

Thursday afternoon he was charged with bribery, introducing contraban into a correctional facility and possession of controlled substances. In all, he faces eight charges.

Late thursday, an associate of Francis, Scott Douglas Barbour, 46, of Marina Del Ray, California, was arrested for bringing the money and drugs to Francis in the jail.. Barbour is jailed now on a charge of Introduction of Contraband into the Bay County Jail.

Barbour is an associate of Joseph Raymond Francis. Francis is currently incarcerated at the Bay County Jail.

All telephone calls made by inmates are recorded and inmates are informed of this when they are booked. An examination of recordings of telephone calls Francis made to a person named "Scott" led investigators to believe that Scott Barbour may have brought Francis the pills and cash when he visited Francis in jail on April 11, 2007.

Barbour was arrested while waiting to visit Francis again in the Bay County Jail. He was booked and is currently being held in the Bay County Jail. Barbour faces first appearance tomorrow.

I'm no fan of GGW Joe. Don't own one GGW DVD or tape. Been following this issue as I followed the OJ case... curious how jet-setting people with notoriety live life.

But this may be part of building Francis' defense. Francis may have duped Bay County law enforcement into a huge mistake.

Let's think about this:

1. How does a prisoner meet with an outsider in an atmosphere that allows the transfer of anything... money, drugs, or anything else? It appears that in Bay County, someone can make a phone call, have a friend visit them in jail, and that friend can hand over anything they want.

2. This Scott guy was arrested while waiting to visit Francis for a second time. Even if he was bringing in more contraband, that only reinforces that security during visitation must not exist.

3. I'm thinking that if Francis figured out that he could smuggle stuff in, there would have been a lot more caught on both of them. If he was willing to pay $500 for a bottle of water, I would think he'd want $5000 smuggled in. He makes $13,000,000 a year according to news accounts.

4. Why would an inmate be so desperate for water when it is a basic necessity which jails are to provide? This further destroys the case... unless Bay County wants to say they don't provide water for prisoners.

The above are HUGE questions... and only help Francis' entire case against Bay County. He can afford to appeal as far up the ladder as he needs.

If the above allegations are actually true, Bay County is admitting that they run a jail with significant issues. Since no jail can/will begin to admit that, the case will probably fold. Who at the jail is going to admit that they dropped the ball that badly?

This helps Francis down the road:

He will claim (through appeals) that he got railroaded in Bay County. That notion was a smoldering (and dying) fire... until now. Francis could have only prayed something like this would happen to help his overall case.

Bottom Line:

I agree that Francis has had major contempt for the law. On top of his charges in Florida and California for filming underage girls (noted as improper record keeping), the IRS on now on his a** regarding $20,000,000 in tax hidden income. The guy in no angel and probably should have some punishment coming to him.

But... we are all innocent until proven guilty. If one speeds on a regular basis, they should be caught and cited... when they are speeding. But if any of us were to get a ticket when we were not speeding, that is a miscarriage of justice.

It still appears that some huge charges hang over Francis (and rightly so).

But... this looks like a "payback" or "desperation" play by a jurisdiction that should have the case already under control (with bigger charges pending), and very well may turn out to hurt what is now left of the pending case.


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You could be right... but, I think you're giving him way too much credit.

I think his ego clouds his judgement. If he thought logically, he would never have been in PCB when he knew the officials were out to get him. He would've never involved himself with underage girls. He wouldn't have acted like an *** during mediation. And he wouldn't have snuck drugs & money into jail or tried to bribe a guard.

He essentially turned a case that his attorneys had almost won for him into a plethora of additional charges... and, instead of spending one night in jail and getting out the next day, he'll be in there until the court sets bail (days? weeks?).

Also, keep in mind that the Bay County Jail is only a detention center - not a maximum security prison. I doubt the jail did anything wrong. Prisoners and visitors are caught with contraband on a daily basis in almost every jail and prison in America.

And, he probably wanted the water so badly because he had cotton mouth from the drugs he was taking. Maybe the jail only gives a certain ration of water per day or something. I don't know.... I'm sure they ration meals, so why not ration water as well? Same thing.

My bottom line is this: I'd LOVE to interview Joe Francis. Completely on his terms. I'd really love to see what drives him to make the decisions he has made lately. Maybe it's his ego, or maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, Joe if you read this, send me a PM and let's set up an interview.

You make a great point. We are all used to dealing with bright, intelligent executives so I might be giving him and his legal team too much credit.

Yes, I am aware that contraband makes it into jails, but it appears that visitor contact still must be pretty relaxed. The water was the biggest red flag/question for me: My brother is a corrections officer in Washington State at the same sort of detention facility. He indicated that either running drinking water is in a cell (as part of the sink setup) or prisoners are allowed to have reasonable access to water.

True that everything from simple stress to certain drugs could cause additional thirst but it raises a prisoner treatment flag. It is easy to say "let prisoners rot" but if you ever get popped for a DUI (I have not, but friends have), you'll suddenly probably get pretty interested in prisoner access to drinking water.

That whole water thing raised my curiosity. The other stuff is explainable. The charge of bribing an officer for water just seemed to be the final straw in me giving this a pretty good chance to be a frame.

I agree Bay County didn't want Joe around in the first place. He was really arrogant and came where he wasn't welcome in the first place, then made it worse by his actions of the past couple of weeks. But if Bay County is perceived to go a too far overboard with "southern justice" in retaliation, I stand beyind my notion that this could help his appeal down the road.

I understand that saying things in his defense in Bay County is like wearing a Gators jersey around Tallahassee. I'm not trying to start a knock-down, drag out. Just saying something seems fishy.

If I were Francis' legal counsel, I'd suggest a nice sit-down with the judge and sheriff and say "We are sorry, we'll be angels from here on out, pay our fines, do our service, stay out of town otherwise... you scrap these questionable charges".

I'll say this: It is a lot of fun to follow. Part of me doesn't mind seeing Francis get the book thrown at him. His company has a long line of very questionable action dating back to billing people who had stopped their memberships. But I don't want to see anyone go down on trumped up charges.

Before I look like I must have GGW stock (I think it is a private company... I don't) I will note this damning story in the L.A. Times last year:

Joe Francis: 'Baby, give me a kiss'
The man behind the "Girls Gone Wild" soft-porn empire lets Claire Hoffman into his world, for better or worse

http://www.latimes.com/features/maga...,2664370.story

This guy probably (eventually) deserves to be guilty of everything on the face of the planet. I just want to temper the debate regarding the law staying in-bounds on the procecution. The amount of evidence tossed out originally because it was improperly collected said quite a bit, raised quite a few questions about he prosecution of this issue. I don't want to live in a world where "evidence" against me is obtained illegally, or worse yet... manufactured.

I heard Francis wanted bottled water because he's not a fan of tap water. If something girlish like doesn't call out "I want to be someone's prison b**ch!" I don't what will.

I'm neither anti-joe nor anti-ggw... it just amazes me that he makes these decisions. If it's strategery, it's pretty bad strategery IMO.
And, I'm with you on the civil rights - gotta play by the rules.

Nice article btw. I didn't know about him getting 'victimized' in 2004.

('sup bus!)

ANyway - all of the local charges won't mean crap if he gets convicted of tax evasion by the feds... he'll be someone's ***** like shortbus said.

I was actually on one of the GGW tapes back on Spring Break 2001 (in the background), GGW was all over the strip in Panama City getting video and photo's. I got to hang out with the entire crew for an hour and I saw some pretty amaizing things. It was different back then; Girls pretty much came up to them and went crazy, they never even had to say a word........

I actually met Joe, and he really seemed like (believe it or not) a decent guy.... It sounds like he has chenged over the years and his dream of being this generations Hugh Hefner will never be a reality.

Legal troubles aside, I am dubious about the GGW franchise stuff. Hooters is a cute restaurant concept. Playboy was founded (and still successfully hold to) the fine living concept with the women as a centerpiece.

As accepted (and for people like Francis profitable) as porn is now, I just don't see GGW crossing over to mainstream in the Playboy sense. GGW is missing the "lifestyle" component needed to make mass branding work.

Also, Francis just isn't a celeb in the sense needed to make the brand turn the corner. He's not Hef. If he's going to take GGW to the next level, he really needs to start listening to his PR people and his legal counsel and keep his nose clean (no pun intended).

Of course, if he was already doing that, he wouldn't be a frequent visitor to the local jail.

He needs to pull a very public apology to the people of Bay County (a full page ad in the News Herald should certainly be within his financial reach), do a couple of humble TV interviews with local TV, etc. Get the (in my opinion) trumped bribary and drug charges dropped in exchage for being nice. Make some kind of sizeable donation to a couple of beloved local charities, and be a model citizen when he comes to do his community service.

If he can't do the above, he doesn't begin to have what it takes to brand himself as the center of a legit Playboy style franchise. He's in his mid-30's and needs to start thinking about his legacy.

Updated info from WMBB:

The Girls Gone Wild creator is back in court Monday. This time with a totally different outlook.

Joe Francis appeared before Federal Judge Richard Smoak on Criminal Contempt of Court charges. He pleaded guilty to one charge that he failed to surrender on time and therefore violated a court order by, what Judge Smoak called, being on his own schedule for five days.

Francis was asked to surrender by Thursday April 5th but did not show up in Bay County until Tuesday April 10th.

A second charge that Francis made a false statement to the court during a March 30th hearing was dropped. The burden of proof was too high for the US Attorney to meet.

Francis's behavior during Monday's hearing was noticeably different than when he was first brought into custody two weeks ago. The once extremely confident man broke down into tears as he entered his plea and apologized to the court for not surrendering on time.

Francis was sentenced to 35 days in jail and was fined just over 5000 dollars. His lawyers say Francis is disappointed in the sentence but has learned his lesson.

"I know he is disappointed. However on the other hand, he now knows what his sentence will be in this case and its important to remember that Judge Smoak could have imposed six months. He didn't do that so even though it's not what we were hoping, for it could have been worse," says Los Angeles based attorney Jan Handzlick.

Francis has already served 14 days in jail so that means he will have to serve 21 additional days before this case is behind him.

"These proceedings have had a dramatic impact on Mr. Francis and all I can say is that he looks forward to resolving the other matters as quickly as possible," says Handzlick.

Unfortunately for Francis, once this case is closed he will have to face the music for other cases around the country. Two cases are pending in Bay County, one for taping underage girls and another for misconduct while incarcerated. Francis is also facing federal tax evasion charges in Reno, Nevada.

Francis's attorneys did ask Judge Smoak to reduce the 35 day sentence to 30 days because those extra five days will put Francis in a different federal sentencing bracket. This could put Francis at a higher risk for incarceration in the tax evasion case. Smoak denied the defense's request for a lighter sentence.

"He now realizes quite forcibly that orders are to be obeyed and that he's not special. All of us have to obey those court orders and he's sorry that he didn't do so," says Handzlick.



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The following was released Monday by the State Attorney's Office:

State Attorney Steve Meadows has taken steps to make sure that Joe Francis is kept in Bay County to answer state charges.

A petition for a writ of habeas corpus was filed today and will be presented to Circuit Court Judge Dedee S. Costello on Tuesday. That writ directs the U.S. Marshall to deliver Joe Francis to appear on charges related to use of under-aged girls in his business as well as charges that he possessed controlled substances while in the jail and bribed a correctional officer.

Warrants were obtained on the latter charges but have not been served on Francis because he is in federal custody. Francis entered a plea to contempt in U.S. District Court on Monday. It was also discovered that the U.S. District Court in Reno, Nevada has issued arrest warrants for income tax charges that were recently filed.

Full article and video here!

Yea - I bet his sweet arse was breakin' into tears - give me a break - all of a sudden he has to face the consequences of his actions and he cries like a whipped pup....boo (insert expletive here) hoo.....

Does anybody really believe this????

Lordy. I suppose it takes all kinds.

Sounds like he's finally listening to his counsel and PR people. Here is what many don't understand:

When you have Francis' money, you can really put the legal system through their paces. You can hire the best legal counsel, appeal and appeal, almost buy public sentiment where needed (enough to give a jury the "reasonable doubt" needed despite the venue).

Francis came in way too arrogant knowing the above and flaunting it, so the legal system (which is comprised of humans with feelings and emotions) fought back.

Francis will have a much more tough go of it now, but the bottom line is that he still has the cash to put the legal system though every option over many years. And... there only needs to be one loophole found or one judge who sees his side of things for him to 100% skate. That is not lost on the legal system, who would rather nail him on some stuff than see him walk down the road.

Although Francis is showing the public remorse (as I predicted), he still has more crap to put up with because he has to "pay" for his earlier arrogance.

But he's paving the way for a much more smooth legal future. One where he can cut a deal or plea bargain on the Bay County stuff to a slap on the risk (given the charges).

This paves the way for his counsel to show the IRS that he's cooperative and lets him gets the easiest out (depending on his level of guilt on taxes, if any).

Be interesting to keep watching. Always plenty to learn by watching the ups and downs of others.

Just saw this on TMZ:

TMZ has learned that "Girls Gone Wild" mogul Joe Francis has just been charged with one count of misdemeanor sexual battery. The charge was filed by the L.A. City Attorney.

L.A. City Attorney spokesperson Frank Mateljan tells TMZ that Francis was at a birthday party in Los Angeles this past January when he allegedly touched an 18-year-old girl on the breast, buttocks and inner thigh. The woman allegedly repeatedly asked Francis to stop.

Francis will be arraigned May 22. If convicted, he faces a maximum six months in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Francis has a world of legal woes. He's currently in a Florida jail serving 35 days for contempt of court. He faces other charges as well.

This is probably the least of his problems. Guys like him are targets of stuff like this all the time. In fact, he's filed suit against one of the previous women who tried this stunt:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0419043ggw1.html

Before we naturally assume a male is guilty every time a female accuses him of something sexually related, just keep in mind the Duke rape case.

I realize that being somewhat objective about Francis in a Bay County based message board is like walking into Yankee Stadium saying "Boston Red Sox are looking pretty strong this year." If Francis dropped dead in jail, I imagine the celebration in Bay County would last for weeks.

Believe me, I know. I have friends in the area plus my attention to area news and sentiment on many issues as a prelude to possible real estate investing in the area. (Side Note: I think Money magazine was very much on the money, no pun intended. Next 5-7 years, Bay County real estate in general will pop).

But I can't agree with so much of the "guilty until proven innocent" sentiment, especially in light of cases like Duke.

Am I the only one that finds is curious that the girls filmed lied about their age and ended up being rewarded huge piles of cash for it? Does this not send a message to 17 year old girls that if they can con their way into a naughty apperance on tape, they can make a pile of cash in court? Funny how when a huge pile of cash is within reach, even the parents are thrilled to come forward and basically say "my daughter is a lying tramp." Guess it turns out that the girls ended up being very well paid for their performance after all.

Food for thought.

Perhaps Paris Hilton can request a transfer to Bay County and she and Francis can serve their time together.

Am I the only one in shock that people with full time legal counsel can get themselves in this much trouble?

L.A. Times had an interesting article Is Paris Hilton really that dumb?
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...dlines-entnews