'Girls gone wild' founder goes free

By Times wires
Published March 13, 2008

PANAMA CITY  

Girls Gone Wild video empire founder Joe Francis pleaded no contest to child abuse and prostitution charges Wednesday under an agreement allowing him to go free after nearly a year in jail.

Francis, 34, returned to Florida after posting a $1.5-million bond this week in Nevada, where he is awaiting trial for tax fraud. The hearing in Bay County state court resolved his 2003 criminal case involving the filming of underaged girls during spring break on Panama City Beach.

"I have never committed any crime. I pleaded guilty just to get out of jail," a defiant Francis said after the court hearing. "A few corrupt individuals were able to keep an innocent man in jail for 11 months."

Francis makes an estimated $29-million a year on videos of young women in sexually provocative situations. He pleaded no contest to one count of felony child abuse and two counts of misdemeanor prostitution.

The charges were all that remained out of an original 73-count indictment brought after Bay County law officers raided Francis' hotel rooms and corporate jet in 2003. Judge Deede Costello sentenced Francis to 339 days, the time he has already served in Florida and Nevada. Costello also ordered Francis to pay more than $60,000 in fines, court costs and restitution to the county.

BOCA RATON

Housing applications run out; police called

Police in riot gear intervened Wednesday when hundreds of people seeking a chance at subsidized housing grew frustrated after officials ran out of applications.

At least one person was arrested and at least six others were hospitalized for exhaustion during chaos at the Boca Raton Housing Authority some believed would grow into a riot.

Judith Aigen, executive director of the housing authority, said the crowd surged forward when told applications only remained for the disabled. She said mothers with children and people in wheelchairs were nearly crushed.

People began gathering at the housing authority before midnight, and before long there were far more than the 600 applications officials planned to distribute. Many of those waiting were women with infants or toddlers in their arms, or a baby on the way.

"We're all working people and we're all bitter right now," said Deborah Davis, 37. "To be turned away like this hurts. They should have anticipated having a large crowd."

PUNTA GORDA

Body identified as missing war veteran

Authorities say a body found over the weekend in Charlotte County is a missing Iraq War veteran.

A sheriff's spokesman says a medical examiner confirmed that the remains are of former Marine Eric Hall. A cause of death has not been determined.

Dozens of volunteers scoured the area and searchers located a body Sunday. The 24-year-old's family has scheduled a memorial service in Florida for this morning.

Hall will be buried in Indiana, where he grew up. He moved to Florida shortly before he went missing in early February. Relatives feared he was hallucinating and believed he was back in Iraq. He had been wounded in a bomb explosion in June 2005 and later granted medical retirement.

[Last modified March 13, 2008, 00:30:51]