Staffers for popular video and Internet series Girls Gone Wild filmed at least 35 minors exposing themselves during spring break, prosecutors told a September 3 court hearing where they also said more charges are possible against producer Joe Francis.
State Attorney Jim Appleman told Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet prosecutors would be "able to prove our case," the Associated Press said.
Francis was arrested in mid-April on racketeering and drug charges, the AP said, after parents complained he told underage girls to say on camera they were 18 years old. The Girls Gone Wild series usually features reputedly college-age women exposing their breasts at parties and spring break locales.
Francis has maintained his innocence since his arrest, the AP said, but he could face thirty years behind bars if convicted on all charges. His attorney, Jimmy Judkins, told the court hearing videos confiscated during a raid at a Girld Gone Wild staff condominium "contain a wealth of evidence that exculpate Mr. Francis and will disprove the government allegation that (his) is a criminal enterprise," the AP added.
Francis's Mantra Films insists that crews always asks the young women their age, and film those who say they are 18 or older only, the AP said. "It doesn't become child pornography," said another defense attorney, Aaron Dyer, to the court, "when you're just dealing with nudity."
