'Girls Gone Wild' goes community service
By Claire Hoffman
Times Staff Writer
12:04 PM PST, December 13, 2006
Joe Francis, founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" video empire, was ordered to do 30 months of community service in Florida for his company's failure to document the ages of underage women who bared their bodies for its cameras.
The community service comes on top of a $2.1-million fine Francis and his Santa Monica-based Mantra Films agreed to pay as part of a plea agreement reached in September.
"It does not take a very brave man to go out and corner a girl in the middle of spring break, who's had four drinks," U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak told Francis in a Panama City courtroom.
Francis argued that his policy has always been to film women over 18, and that the women during the Panama City shoot had lied to him about their ages.
Francis had pleaded guilty to two felony counts for violating federal record-keeping laws in Los Angeles. He admitted to filming at least two underage women in 2003 for sexually explicit material, including the videos "Totally Exposed Uncensored and Beyond," Volumes 1 through 12.
At the time, Francis said he would pay $500,000 personally. His Mantra Films pleaded to 10 additional felony counts in Florida and agreed to pay an additional $1.6 million in fines.
The judge ordered Francis' corporation to perform 32 hours of community service for the next 30 months, with Francis himself serving at least eight hours per month in Panama City.
Smoak suggested, however, that Francis shoulder the burden for his employees by giving him the option of "stepping up" and serving 16 hours a month of community service himself instead.
Francis' attorney Aaron Dyer said he was unsure if Francis would take on the entire sentence himself or exactly what service he would do. "It will be something that provides a significant benefit to the community," Dyer said.
Francis and several of his employees also face separate criminal charges in Panama City's District Court, where most of the evidence was dismissed earlier this year.
A judge is expected to rule in the coming weeks whether or not the 10 felonies remaining from 77 original counts that Francis and his employees once faced will be dismissed.
