Girls Gone Wild Founder Freed Under Plea Agreement

Joe Francis, the founder of Girls Gone Wild, has finally been allowed to go free after being kept in jail for almost a year on charges of child abuse and prostitution. The Bay County state court allowed Francis, the man behind the video empire that is Girls Gone Wild, to go free after pleading no contest Wednesday to the charges against him.

Francis maintained his innocence in the whole matter, saying, “I have never committed any crime. I pleaded guilty just to get out of jail. A few corrupt individuals were able to keep an innocent man in jail for 11 months.”

During the hearing, the 34-year old Francis pleaded no contest to the charges leveled against him – two counts of misdemeanor prostitution and one count of felony child abuse. He also pleaded no contest to another two counts of child abuse for Mantra Films, his company. He also pleaded guilty to one charge, of carrying contraband in the form of pills and cash in the Bay County Jail in 2007.

The plea agreement also required Francis to ensure his company was not involved in any filming in the area between the counties of Escambia and Jackson for another three years.

These were the only charges remaining out of the original indictment that had run up 73 counts against him. The indictment had come about after law enforcement officers of Bay County had raided his corporate jet as well as hotel rooms in 2003. Francis had claimed he did not know the women being filmed were underage as they had all signed agreements stating they were above the mandatory legal age.

However, Roy Black, the defense attorney from Miami who worked out the plea agreement, said, Francis’ lack of awareness did not matter much. He said, “But it makes no difference under Florida law, they still committed a crime. I understand why Joe is so upset. In his business, you can be doing your job and go to jail for 11 months.”

At the end of the hearing, the judge at the Bay County Court, Deede Costello, sentenced Francis to 339 days prison time, which works out exactly to the time he has spent behind bars in Florida and Nevada. Along with the prison time, the judge also asked Francis to pay over $60,000 in the form of fines, court costs, and restitution money to Bay County.

With this hearing in the Bay County Court, Francis’ criminal case of 2003 comes to an end, a case that had been about him filming girls who were legally underage on Panama City Beach during Spring Break.

Francis’ attorneys, including Black, say the raids conducted in 2003 were a retaliatory gesture by law enforcement officials against Francis as they were unable to stop him from filming that year’s spring break.

Earlier this week, Francis posted a bond of $1.5 million in Nevada, which enabled him to return to Florida. In Florida, Francis will go on trial for tax fraud. Francis was sent to Reno, Nevada, after officials of Bay County cancelled his bond, which had allowed him to stay free from 2003, after jail guards complained that Francis had approached them with money in return for bottled water to down sleeping pills.

After the Bay County hearing, Francis said talks were underway in Nevada as well for a plea agreement. He expressed hope that the cases against him there would be closed soon as well, and said, “I’m going to go back to making videos, this afternoon.”