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'Girls Gone Wild' Creator Back In Court

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Apr 23, 2007 8:49 am US/Eastern

'Girls Gone Wild' Creator Back In Court

jm/ap
PANAMA CITY (CBS4) ― The creator of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series has a court hearing Monday in Panama City on contempt charges.

Joe Francis was ordered to jail last month after he allegedly became enraged during negotiations in a federal civil lawsuit brought by seven under-aged women filmed by his company in 2003.

Lawyers for the women told U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak that Francis was verbally abusive during the settlement talks. The judge ordered Francis to settle the case or go to jail. The negotiations resumed, but soon broke down again and Smoak ordered that Francis be arrested on contempt charges.

Francis initially refused to surrender and called Smoak "a judge gone wild."

Francis has also been charged with bribing a jail guard for a bottle of water and having prescription sleeping pills in his cell.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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