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Francis flew to Panama City (Bay County, Florida) the following Monday in order to turn himself in. Immediately upon landing at the airport in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday morning April 10, Francis was seized by airport police on the arrest warrant, transferred to the county jail facility until the federal courthouse opened, and handed over to the U.S. Marshals. Under total duress and believing the judge would only release him from jail if he settled the lawsuit, Francis grudgingly signed a settlement agreement from the confines of his jail cell and executed a wire for the money through his lawyers. (Picture of Joe Francis forced to sign the settlement agreement from his jail cell in the Panama City Jail.)
Since Francis was stripped by the court of any power to negotiate a fair settlement, the amount of the settlement paid to the women and their attorneys was staggering. The women who lied about their age to get on camera with Girls Gone Wild and the attorneys that represented them will never have to work again as long as they live. And more alarming, their families for generations to come will not have to work either. Immediately upon receiving the money, the women went out and bought themselves brand new convertible Mercedes. They mocked Francis by taking pictures of themselves with their brand new Mercedes, BMW and Lexus automobiles with comments such as “Thanks Joe for Spring Break” and posted them for their friends on their MySpace and Facebook pages while Francis remained in jail. Two of the “victims” got breast implants shortly thereafter, which they also boasted about publicly while Francis sat in jail.
Upon receiving evidence of the settlement agreement, Judge Richard Smoak lifted the civil contempt order and dismissed the civil lawsuit, but a few hours later, slapped Francis with a charge of criminal contempt of court for surrendering to custody 4 days late, thereby keeping him in jail. The judge set a hearing in three weeks for April 23, 2007. It was ordered by Judge Richard Smoak that the charge of criminal contempt of court was to be tried by him alone, without a jury, once again stripping Francis of his right to due process under the U.S. constitution.
Francis takes prescription medication for cholesterol and sleep. When he was taken to the Panama City (Bay County, Florida) jail, Francis informed the US Marshals and the jail personnel that he needed his prescriptions. He also gave the jail nurse the name and phone number of his doctor in California. Francis had never spent any time in jail before – in 2003, he’d only been detained for a few hours in the Panama City (Bay County, Florida) jail before making bail.
As he entered jail in 2007, Francis was never searched or informed of what he was or was not allowed to bring with him. Like any other person whose only experience with jail comes from watching television and movies, Francis had no idea as to what he could or could not have in jail. Nonetheless, later that night, jail officials searched Francis’ cell and found Francis’ prescription medications and some cash. That night, Francis was visited by Deputy Faith Bell, the same Sheriff’s Deputy that had arrested him back in 2003. She had been exposed by the Francis case and reprimanded by the judge in the 2003 case for lying in search warrants and arrest affidavits. At that time, the judge said the Sheriff’s affidavit contained “numerous misrepresentations made with the intent to deceive the court.” (Judge Costello’s order granting defendant’s motion to suppress)
In an apparent vendetta, Deputy Bell made up an arrest warrant for 9 felonies based on the “contraband” found in Francis’ cell, which called for penalties totaling 85 years in prison, based on each cholesterol pill and sleeping aide pill and for the cash found in Francis’ cell. This is despite the fact that Francis had disclosed the medication upon his incarceration; the medications were necessary to his health, and his possession of them was otherwise entirely lawful.
In addition, Bell added another charge accusing Francis of “bribing a public official” because he’d ostensibly asked a guard if he (Joe) could buy a bottle of water from the jail store. The guard informed Francis there was a $100 minimum for his purchase and he must fill out a commissary form, which the guard provided to him. Francis filled out the proper form and gave the guard cash to accomplish the transaction. This became the basis for the charge of “bribing a public official” – a serious felony carrying a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
Panama City (Bay County, Florida) prosecutors raised a skeptical eyebrow at Bell’s arrest warrant and never charged Francis with bribing a public official nor five of her other ridiculous charges. However, they still filed two counts of introducing contraband into a detention facility.
Even though prosecutors did not file the bribery charge nor seven other drug related counts against Francis, the damage had been done. Just as had happened four years earlier, the misrepresentations were reported widely in the press making it look as if Francis had actually tried to smuggle real drugs into the jail and bribe a public official. It’s ironic Joe Francis had previously never been arrested or charged with any crime in his 34 years, and yet was arrested twice by the same person in the same city within four years — once while already in her custody!
When Francis and his lawyers went before Magistrate Judge Larry Bodiford (Judge Richard Smoak’s Assistant Magistrate Judge) the next day (Wednesday, April 11) to request bail and to enter his “not guilty” plea on the criminal contempt charge, the judge was visibly stunned, declaring that in 22 years he had “never seen a criminal contempt charge stem from a civil complaint.” With the new “contraband” charges just filed, the Panama City (Bay County, Florida) prosecutors made it clear they intended to revoke Francis’ bail in the longstanding 2003 case and put Francis in jail until his trial date.
Francis requested the right to be tried by a jury for the criminal contempt charge. Judge Richard Smoak denied this request, deciding that he alone, the same judge who brought the criminal contempt charge, would determine his fate. His lawyers told Francis that they had struck a deal in the judge’s chambers, and if Francis pled guilty to the criminal contempt charge of surrendering 4 days later than ordered, Judge Richard Smoak would release him from jail.
On April 23, under the advice of his now former attorneys, Francis reluctantly entered a plea of guilty to one count of criminal contempt for failing to immediately surrender to the judge’s “settle or jail” order. Judge Richard Smoak reneged on the deal he had allegedly made with Francis’ attorneys and sentenced Francis to serve 35 days in jail. This is, by any measure, an extremely harsh sentence for someone with no prior criminal record, involved in a civil lawsuit who was 4 days late in surrendering to an order to go to jail for not settling a civil lawsuit.
This was not the first time Judge Richard Smoak seemed to single out Francis for punishment that did not fit the crime.
Four months earlier on Dec. 13, 2006, in a federal corporate recordkeeping case also pending before Judge Richard Smoak, Girls Gone Wild, the company Francis founded, pled guilty to technical charges of failing to keep sufficient records and improper labels on some DVDs. Judge Richard Smoak ordered Francis to appear personally in the sentencing of the company even though the law does not require the CEO to be present. (Judge Smoak’s order requiring Joe to appear) In an apparent attempt to embarrass Francis, Judge Richard Smoak required Francis to read a “victim impact statement” at the sentencing hearing, which was written by the two women that were filmed in 2002. Like the women that sued Francis in the civil case, these two women also lied about their age, and filled out false written release forms in order to get on camera. It is an undisputed fact that Joe Francis has never met these women and was not even in the country when they were filmed. Judge Richard Smoak further disparaged Francis by saying that it “doesn’t take a real brave man to go out and corner some young female who has had four or five beers in the middle of spring break and convince them to do something dumb.”
Judge Richard Smoak made these comments despite the fact that the case against Girls Gone Wild, involved only recordkeeping and labeling violations and nothing to do with allegations against Joe Francis personally or anything to do with alcohol abuse. He then also lectured Francis on how, since “young women’s” brains do not fully develop even in their twenties, therefore young women are incapable of making their own decisions and it’s up to men to make decisions for them. (Court transcript)
Judge Richard Smoak then imposed a community service condition of the company’s plea on Francis personally, even though the rules stipulate it should have been Girls Gone Wild, who decides which of its officers or employees fulfills the community service obligation. (Jan Handzlik Appeal Brief)
Jump forward again to April 2007. As Francis began serving Judge Richard Smoak’s 35-day sentence in Panama City’s Bay County jail, it became clear his punishment would be totally out of proportion to his contempt violation. Francis was kept in solitary confinement in a unit populated with murderers and only allowed out of his cell one hour a day. Francis heard from one of the guards that the guards had been instructed to make his life miserable.
Francis was denied reading material or any other comforts, and often denied meals and prescription medication. He was denied visitation and when out of his cell, was shackled, waist-chained and handcuffed. He was even forced to shower in handcuffs and heavy metal shackles that cut into his ankles until they bled. All this because Francis had showed up late to surrender for an order to go to jail for not settling a civil lawsuit! When Francis’ attorneys got wind of the actions being taken against their client, they drafted a motion to have Francis moved to another facility. When Judge Richard Smoak heard about these plans, he quickly issued an order demanding that Francis stay in the Bay County jail. Francis served out the rest of his 35 days under the same harsh conditions. (Judge Smoak’s order making Francis stay in Bay County jail)
But Francis’ jail ordeal did not end there. On the same day he finished his sentence in Panama City (Bay County, Florida), Francis was taken into federal custody and transported – over a three week period with stays at 5 different jails and prisons in 4 different states – to a county jail in Reno, Nevada, to face federal allegations of tax evasion. The tax indictment stemmed from allegations made by a former CPA of Girls Gone Wild who later admitted to stealing money from the company and was trying to both cover his tracks and collect a reward for setting up Francis. The felony charges it contained, as we will see, turned out to be as outrageous and baseless as the false charges that led Francis to being jailed in Panama City (Bay County, Florida).
