PENSACOLA, FL — It’s hard to know whether or not Girls Gone Wild producer and multi-millionaire Joe Francis will continue to sport his increasingly signature smirking disdain for the legal system, but right now it’s easy find him if one feels compelled to check. As of early Tuesday morning, the 34-year-old softcore king began chilling his girl chasing heels in the Bay County Jail.U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak, whom Francis insisted last month was a “judge gone wild,” has shown that regardless of his degree of domestication, he’s got clout that even the jet setting young entrepreneur can’t match.
After becoming impatient with Francis’ on-again/off-again negotiation with seven young women who had been filmed flashing their budding breasts and behaving in a sexually explicit way with one another during a 2003 Spring Break celebration — while under the legal age for such things — Smoak issued a contempt of court citation. The negotiations, which had appeared to be making progress, had ceased to do so when Francis allegedly began shouting obscenities at the girls’ attorneys, insisting that he would “bury them.”
Upon learning of Francis’ conduct, Smoak had informed him that he had two choices: complete negotiations successfully or enjoy an inside look at incarceration for his poor behavior.
Although Francis returned to the negotiation table, an impasse was once again reached on Thursday and Smoak issued a contempt of court warrant, which Francis initially ignored, instead storming out of the courthouse and proclaiming Smoak to be “a judge gone wild.” A Wednesday emergency court hearing on the matter did not include Francis in attendance.
Nonetheless, at 6:30am on Tuesday ET, federal marshals took custody of Francis at the Panama City airport and later booked him into the Bay County Jail, according to sheriff’s office representative, Rush Sasser.
Meanwhile, company spokesman Kevin Mercuri assured The Associated Press in an email message, that Francis’ “attorneys continue to work toward a settlement,” a task likely made easier without the bombastic Francis’ presence.
It is estimated that the Girls Gone Wild videos generate $29 million a year.
