Proof again that the appeal of Oakland Raiders football knows no bounds. Four prison deputies in Washoe Count, Nevada have been charged by federal prosecutors with accepting bribes to give preferential, rock star treatment to "Girls Gone Wild" mogul Joe Francis. The AP reports that while Francis was serving time on a child abuse and prostitution sentence, the deputies allegedly accepted "money and gifts that included a Cartier watch and Oakland Raiders tickets in exchange for preferential treatment for Francis."
These charges are still allegations, and the FBI is continuing it's investigation. But all four deputies are somehow no longer with the department, and one has pled guilty.
If the details reported by the Reno Journal-Gazette are true, then the "Girls Gone Wild" people give fantastic, personalized bribes whenver their boss is locked up in prison. Accoring to info dug up by the Gazette, one deputy got a tv and a home entertainment system.A female deputy was given a Cartier watch and a Saks Fifth Avenue gift card. And ex-deputy Ralph Hawkins allegedy received $3,200 cash and four Raider game tickets to look the other way while top-notch restaurant food was smuggled into Francis' cell during his seven month incarceration in 2007.
It is unkown whether the "Girls Gone Wild" producer shouted, "Show me your tickets!" whenever the deputy passed his cell.
Joe Francis himself is not charged, so apparently it's not a crime to accept gifts that your friends bribed past prison guards. Who knew? Francis also vows that the allegations are provably untrue -- because the bribes did not involve women. In an interview with TMZ.com, where Francis seems thrilled that even one paparazzi is willing to interview him, he insists on camera that the bribe made on his behalf would have involved girls.
I'm no lawyer, but that's not actually a denial. And there are too girls involved at Raider games. There are Raiderettes, in those tiny little Raider-themed outfits.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who could have been bribed with only one Raider game ticket.
