Reporter-assaulter, Girls Gone Wild founder, and winner of the Reno Penal System's Most Likely to Rape award, Joe Francis, can't catch a break. A judge has just denied his request to be freed from the cell he's occupied for almost a year on the grounds that he's still a wanted man in Florida.
The story of meatstick Joe, who the AP succinctly notes "has made millions selling videos of often inebriated women exposing themselves," is a case study in how not to run a national porn empire. Back in 2003, Francis, 34, was charged with child pornography for filming two underage girls showering together in a motel while on Spring Break in Panama City. Most, but not all, charges were dropped for lack of evidence, but Francis got himself thrown in jail in April 2007 for allegedly violating a contempt of court citation that stemmed from the 2003 incident. Days later (are you sensing a pattern here?), Francis again became the subject a criminal investigation, this time for allegedly smuggling prescription drugs into his Florida jail cell. In the brief window between his jailing and the new charges, however, Francis was also indicted by a federal grand jury in Reno for failing to pay taxes on $20 million in income. He was promptly extradited to a Nevada jail to await trial.