Prosecutors said a Hollywood executive bribed sheriff’s officials and a jail worker with money and gifts that included a Cartier watch and Oakland Raiders tickets in exchange for preferential treatment for “Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis while he was locked up last year.
Aaron Weinstein, a Hollywood video and marketing executive who is listed as an executive producer on some of Francis’ projects, was charged with three bribery counts in a grand jury indictment made public in Reno on Friday.
He is accused of bribing two former Washoe County sheriff’s officials and a jail worker with more than US$12,000 and gifts — including Oakland Raiders tickets — in exchange for the favorable treatment of Francis while at the jail in 2007.
Weinstein, 45, of Woodland Hills, California, was arrested in Los Angeles on Friday.
The sheriff’s officials and jail worker also are facing charges for allegedly accepting the bribes.
The US attorney’s office referred to Francis in a statement announcing the indictment only as a “federal pretrial detainee who was an associate of Weinstein.”
But a federal law enforcement official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make it public, confirmed it was Francis.
David Houston, a Reno lawyer representing Francis in a pending tax evasion case in California, denied that any bribes were made.
The indictment charges former Washoe County sheriff’s Sergeant Michon Mills with two counts of accepting a bribe. He was arrested in Reno on Friday.
The same charges were filed under seal last month against former sheriff’s deputy Ralph Hawkins, 41, who now lives in North Fort, Florida, and former inmate classification specialist Mary Boxx, 54, of Sparks, authorities said on Friday.
The indictment alleges Weinstein provided Hawkins with multiple gifts, including US$3,200 in cash and four tickets to an Oakland Raiders football game in exchange for bringing food into the jail.
It accuses him of providing Boxx with a television, a home entertainment system and an airline ticket in return for Boxx bringing unauthorized items into the jail.
The indictment also accuses him of providing Mills with a Cartier watch valued at approximately US$4,500 and a US$5,000 Saks Fifth Avenue department store gift card. It said that in return, Mills helped provide special benefits for the inmate — Francis — including protecting him and making sure he had “almost unrestrained access to telephones.”
Hawkins pleaded guilty July 17 and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 21. Boxx is scheduled for a court appearance on Aug. 24.
The charges against all four in the case carry a maximum penalty of up to two years in prison and a US$250,000 fine for each count.
Francis began his video empire and drew the legal wrath of authorities in Panama City, Florida, when he filmed underage girls baring their breasts and in other sexually provocative poses during spring break in 2003.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS