Crime & Safety
'Girls Gone Wild' Producer Joe Francis Arrested in Westwood
VIDEO of Francis on the run. Police allege he violated a federal order to stay away from his old office on Wilshire Boulevard.
Originally posted at 8:39 a.m. May 17, 2014. Edited with new details.
Bankrupt Girls Gone Wild producer Joe Francis bailed out of the Van Nuys jail today after being arrested on suspicion of getting into a scuffle with an employee at his old offices.
Francis, 41, spent the night behind bars on a misdemeanor assault charge. He was released at 6:21 a.m. after posting $20,000 in bail, according to the Sheriff's Department Inmate Information Center.
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The Girls Gone Wild founder was arrested Friday evening at the building in the 10900 block of Wilshire Boulevard where his production company had been based, said LAPD West Division Sgt. Gary Levy.
Levy said Francis had gone to the building to either retrieve or take photographs of personal property and got into "a shoving and pushing incident" with an employee.
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A bankruptcy judge had issued a restraining order barring Francis from coming within 100 yards of the building.
Francis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2013. Levy said police would request that Francis also be charged with violating the restraining order.
He is scheduled to appear on the assault charge at 8:30 a.m. on June 11 at the Airport Courthouse, Dept. 141.
--City News Service
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