I’m not a HUGE fan of Duane “Dog” Chapman who stars on his own cable reality show–“Dog The Bounty Hunter,” but since I am from Hawaii (Chapman resides on the island of Oahu) and once covered courts for a local television station there, “Dog’s” recent arrest is something I felt compelled to blog about (that and the fact that the guy has a ton of rabid fans who follow his every move).
To get you up to speed, Chapman is a bounty hunter who made headlines in 2003 for capturing Max Factor cosmetics heir Andrew Luster in Mexico (“Dog” was aided by his son Leland and another associate Timothy Chapman). Their efforts earned the team fame and “Dog” ended up getting his own A&E reality show based on his life as a bounty hunter. Ironically, this week (three years after the capture of Factor who was a fugitive convicted of raping three women in Puerto Vallarta) “Dog,” his son, and his associate were all arrested in Hawaii. Local media reports say the arrest stems from the fact that bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico and “the men were arrested for not turning Luster over to Mexican police, and then skipping bail.”
Friday, a federal judge in Honolulu released “Dog” and his cohorts from a detention center. Bail was set at $300,000 for “Dog,” and $100,000 each for the other two men. However, according to a local newspaper, all three men were “ordered to wear electronic monitoring devices and not leave their homes, except for work, until their extradition hearings to face trial in Mexico.
Of course, this whole brouhaha is causing quite a stir in Hawaii where Chapman’s show is filmed. My friend, who happens to work at the courthouse told me there were dozens of fans lined up outside of the federal courthouse waiting for “Dog” to emerge. Some made signs, which read: “Let go our hero” and “In Dog We Trust.” (I might add that in typical reality TV fashion, the entire legal ordeal is being filmed for an upcoming episode of “Dog The Bounty Hunter.”) When Chapman finally exited the courthouse he spoke to reporters and vowed he “absolutely” would be cleared of the charges.
“We’re glad for our support,” he told local reporters. “We’re glad for everything. Everyone loves us, thank you very much. If it wasn’t for the people that love us, we don’t know what would have happened.”
He also added: “We love America. The federal marshals treated us with great respect. But let me tell you, you never want to go to a federal prison because it’s terrible.”
Sounds like must-see TV—at least for “Dog” fans.