Girls Guy Going Nowhere

Judge nixes Joe Francis' latest request for bail with benefits

By Josh Grossberg Mar 06, 2008 9:19 PMTags

On the bright side, Joe Francis will have plenty of time to brainstorm ideas for his new Girls Gone Wild magazine.

Once again, a judge in Reno, Nevada, has shot down a request from the soft-porn purveyor to be released from a federal lockup, where he's been holed up on tax-evasion charges.

U.S. District Judge Brian Sandoval nixed a motion by Francis' attorneys to release him into the supervision of a retired Secret Service agent to ensure he'll show up for court dates and to prevent prosecutors in Florida from extraditing him in a separate case.

Francis is supposed to begin his federal tax-dodging trial in August.

The 34-year-old titillator is wanted in Bay County, Florida, for allegedly shooting minors performing sex acts during spring break 2003, as well as an additional count of smuggling prescription medication into a local jail while in custody last year.

Francis has subsequently claimed from the clink that he's being kept in a legal black hole and unfairly denied his freedom while the feds and Florida battle for jurisdiction over him.

Ultimately, the federal case was deemed to take precedence over the state case, and Francis was shipped off to Nevada.

He also faces separate misdemeanor sexual battery charges in Los Angeles for allegedly groping a woman at a 2007 party.

The no-bail news comes two weeks after Francis issued a jailhouse press release touting the new Gilrs Gone Wild magazine, which he described as a "monthly lifestyle magazine for young men and women geared toward fun, freedom and youthful exuberance."

The premiere issue is due on newsstands in April, complete with a Girls Gone Wild DVD—and guaranteed to win over cell mates.