copied from myspace.com bulletin
Please report this guy as an impostor. He has down Texas for Leland and claims to be his official site.
http://www.myspace.com/lelandblainechapman1
Give myspace Lelands Official Site where it says he has no myspace.
http://leland.dogthebountyhunter.com/
Please pass it on and repost
Update: Account is deleted
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
It’s been a roller-coaster week for bail bondsman James Lindblad.
On Tuesday, a Circuit Court judge ordered forfeiture of $100,000 bail posted by Lindblad for convicted sex offender Frank Lefrandt Jr.
The order came after Lefrandt failed to turn himself in to prison authorities last Friday. His whereabouts are unknown.
“It’s a terrible thing for his (Lefrandt’s) family,” Lindblad said. “First the criminal charges, now this. He’s married, with five children. They put up their house as collateral for the bond.”
Lindblad, owner of A-1 Bail Bonds, said he’s enlisted Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman to find Lefrandt.
“We work together sometimes,” Lindblad said. “He’s on the Mainland now, looking for Frank.”
Good news came Wednesday night on another case that has gnawed at Lindblad for more than a decade. U.S. Marshals announced they had captured fugitive Hawai’i sex offender Michael Andrew Stephens in Mexico.
Lindblad forfeited $42,000 bail posted for Stephens in 1995 when he fled the state while awaiting retrial on charges of kidnaping and sexually assaulting a teenage boy.
“I’ve written more than 20,000 bonds in my career here, and this is the only guy that ever got away,” Lindblad said. “I always knew he was in Mexico. I almost caught him there once, but he slipped away.”
Lindblad said he also partnered with Chapman in trying to track down Stephens.
“We found out in 1996 that he was traveling between Palm Springs and Mexico,” he said.
“We got an an address for him in Mexico and notified the authorities, but when they got there, he had slipped away.”
Marshals and Mexico customs officials located Stephens this month after he was profiled earlier this year on the “America’s Most Wanted” television show.
He was helping run a restaurant called Casa Bahia in Zihuatanejo-Ixtapa, Mexico.
Stephens was known in the area as “Will,” according to messages posted on a Zihuatanejo Internet message board since Stephens was arrested.
Stephens is being deported by the Mexican government to Houston, where he will be held for extradition to Hawai’i.
He was convicted here in 1990 of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy. Prosecutors sought a 20-year prison sentence in that case, calling Stephens a danger to society.
Stephens had been investigated earlier for alleged sex assaults of teenage boys, and five days before he was arrested in the 1990 case, police charged him with assaulting another teenager at the Hawai’i Kai boat ramp, according to court records.
Charges in that case were dropped after Stephens was convicted in the 1990 case.
Friends and business associates of Stephens wrote letters of recommendation on his behalf to the court in the 1990 case, and he was sentenced to five years of probation. He was re-indicted on new charges of sexually assaulting a teenage victim in 1993.
Jurors could not agree on a verdict on the assault charges, convicting Stephen only of promoting liquor to a minor.
After staging a fake disappearance at sea, Stephens fled the state while awaiting retrial on the 1993 sex assault charges.
Credit. Honoluluadvertiser.com
Duane “Dog” Chapman and wife Beth have escalated their war against their former talent agent, claiming he and his company have deceived them yet again.
The Chapmans are embroiled in a fight over fees Boris Krutonog and his company, Pivot Point Entertainment, allegedly began collecting in connection with an A&E deal. The Chapmans say Krutonog secretly negotiated a producer’s fee with A&E, which is based on a percentage of their earnings from the network. The Chapmans claim the fee is a subterfuge for a talent agent’s fee, which Krutonog can’t collect because he is not a licensed agent.
Now the Chapmans claim Krutonog is at it again, secretly filing a claim with the New York Labor Commissioner to resolve the matter, even though the case is already being heard by the California Labor Commissioner (New York is more likely to cut Krutonog a break).
The Chapmans now want the judge to put the brakes on the New York case. Wouldn’t it be easier to just pick the dude up in the middle of the night and cart him over to Mexico
credit. http://www.tmz.com
from http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com
By Rick Daysog
Advertiser Staff Writer
Retired car dealer Jimmy Pflueger, who was indicted last week in connection with the deadly collapse of the Kaloko Dam in 2006, surrendered to authorities this morning. TV star Duane Chapman, aka “Dog the Bounty Hunter” and a longtime friend of Pflueger, came with him to Halawa State Prison and posted the bail of $71,000.
Pflueger was booked and processed at the prison receiving desk, said Louise Kim McCoy, spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety. He was freed after posting the bond. Pflueger, 82, was indicted by a Kaua’i grand jury on seven counts of manslaughter and one count reckless endangering for the March 14, 2006, tragedy that killed seven people on Kaua’i. Pflueger’s attorney, Bill McCorriston, said last week that Pflueger plans to plead not guilty to the charges.
Pflueger has previously denied that he altered the dam or its structure. Pflueger was accompanied by Chapman, attorney David Minkin and representatives of the state Attorney General’s Office this morning. For more than two years, the Attorney General’s Office has been investigating allegations that Pflueger or others tampered with the dam, contributing to its collapse
More details at http://www.hawaiiareporter.com
Jimmy Pflueger Indicted for Manslaughter for Kaloko Deaths
After today’s booking, Pflueger’s bail was posted by A&E Bounty Hunter Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman
By Malia Zimmerman, 11/24/2008 11:46:23 AM
LIHUE, KAUAI: A ferocious rainstorm hit Kauai Friday spurring a downpour predicted to be as heavy as the storm that hit the island in March 2006.
It was that storm that filled James Pflueger’s Ka Loko Reservoir until its dam breached in the early morning hours of March 14, releasing an estimated 400 million gallons of water on the North Shore residents below, killing eight people and causing tremendous property damage.
On Friday, as the skies darkened over Kauai, a grand jury met in secret inside the Kauai courthouse for its fourth straight day to hear evidence on the 2006 dam breach. At issue was whether Pflueger, a wealthy retired automobile mogul, willfully covered or altered his dam’s main safety feature, called a “spillway”, causing the water in the 30-acre Ka Loko Reservoir to overtop and breach the dam when the rising rainwater couldn’t be safely released.
Before noon, the grand jury issued an indictment against Pflueger for seven counts of Manslaughter and one count of Reckless Endangering in the First Degree. Pflueger turned himself in to authorities today for booking, and according to his civil attorney Bill McCorriston, will plead “not guilty” when arraigned at a later date on Kauai. His bail was posted on Kauai this morning by A&E Bounty Hunter Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman, a close family friend.
The indictments handed down against Pflueger mark a dramatic end to the two-and-a-half year criminal investigation led by Hawaii Attorney General Mark Bennett.
“We believe that the evidence justified the presentation to a grand jury of a case charging James Pfleuger with Manslaughter for recklessly causing the deaths of Alan Gareth Dingwall, Daniel Jay Arroyo, Rowan Grey Makana Fehring-Dingwall, Aurora Solveig Fehring, Christina Michelle McNees, Timothy Wendell Noonan, Jr., and Carl Wayne Rotstein,” Bennett says.
Aurora, Alan and Rowan
Chistina Sunny McNees
The indictments also caused many local observers to wonder how one of Hawaii’s most wealthy and powerful businessmen, who for most of his 84 years lived a lifestyle of the rich and famous, is charged with crimes that could land him in prison for the rest of his life.
Living High in Hawaii
Once one of Hawaii’s most well known “Waikiki Beach Boys”, Pflueger associated with the likes of Duke Kahanamoku and other famous surfers and paddlers from Waikiki’s Outrigger Canoe Club. As the grandson of Mary Nauepu Bannister Lucas, a Native Hawaiian taken in as an infant by Kaahumanu, the “favorite wife” of Kamehameha the Great, Pflueger lived a privileged life in pre-statehood Hawaii.
In the 1960s, Pflueger worked in car sales and bought his first dealership. “I know how to work and work hard and I know how to talk to people,” Pflueger told Hawaii Reporter in a 2006 interview. He was the first to bring Honda to Hawaii, the deal made him one of the wealthiest men in the state.
Besides remarkable success in business, Pflueger had many other talents. Extremely rugged and athletic, even in his later years, he surfed, paddled, water-skiied and jet-skied. He flew his own helicopter and some times irritated his neighbors when he landed it where he pleased. He drove rugged vehicles up steep mountains. He helped build Hawaii’s first racetrack and won racing competitions. Eventually, Pflueger married and had five children.
And Pflueger bought land – a great deal of it – on almost every maln Hawaiian island. The story of how Kauai’s 118-year-old Ka Loko Dam, and its surrounding 1,000 acres of land came to be in the possession of Pflueger and the Mary Lucas Estate, of which James Pflueger is an heir, began 144 years ago in the Kingdom of Hawaii under the rule of Kamehameha V, when Mary Lucas was born. Mary Lucas accumulated considerable land holdings in Niu Valley on Oahu and on the North Shore of Kauai during her more than 100 years of life and left it to her family. At the time of the Ka Loko Dam disaster, he owned more than 500 acres on Kauai, including most of the land around the reservoir and the dam itself.
Mary Lucas
According to numerous stories Pflueger shared with Hawaii Reporter about his business ventures and occasional encounters with people who crossed him, he didn’t let anyone get in his way either in business or in life and he didn’t answer to anyone when it came to his actions on his private land.
A Fall from Grace
The indictments handed down on Friday are not the first time Jimmy Pflueger has run afoul of the law.
When Pflueger purchased 393 acres from his family trust for $6.4 million on the North Shore of Kauai overlooking the beach in Pilaa in April 1997, he says the property, then valued at $7 million, was “ugly, that no one in the family wanted it,” and that his daughter Tracy, a real estate agent, warned him of potential problems from property owners who would access their kuleanas or neighboring small land parcels through his property.
But he says Pilaa captured his heart and set out to make it “beautiful” with the help of a special tractor that could make the once forest-filled grounds manicured like a golf course. “You know, you see all these weeds, we buried them. Anything you see here you can knock down and bury them,” Pflueger said, motioning around his Pilaa property.
Pflueger now admits he illegally graded and grubbed several acres of his property fronting Pilaa beach in 2001. Heavy rains on the 50 to 100 acres of exposed land led to the November 26, 2001, catastrophic mudslide, which devastated the beach and bay.
The mudslide also damaged the property, home and small business of Amy and Rick Marvin. With the help of local attorney Teresa Tico, the Marvins won a large civil settlement against Pflueger in 2007.
Amy and Rick Marvin
Kauai Attorney Teresa Tico
Beginning in 2001, Teresa Tico and Amy Marvin pushed for criminal charges against Pflueger, and in 2006, after an extensive investigation by county, state and federal officials, Pflueger was charged with 13 counts. He pled guilty to 10 felonies and was sentenced to three years probation and a nationwide record for a storm water case – and he was levied a $12 million fine.
“You know what? I did do work without a permit. I screwed up. And I said ok I accepted it. I am a felon,” Pflueger says, adding, “This was a nightmare.” He said in court that there would have been no problem if the rains hadn’t come. Pflueger is still performing remedial work at Pilaa mandated by the settlement with the EPA.
Ka Loko, A Crime Scene?
Before his illegal grading and grubbing at Pilaa in 2001, Pflueger admits he did the same kind of work on a nearby Kauai property around Ka Loko reservoir.
The land surrounding the reservoir is partially owned by him and the Mary Lucas Trust, for which he was one of two lead trustees with his cousin Paul Cassidy, until his niece, Christiane Lucas, took them both to court to have them removed for mismanagement. She accused her uncles, particularly Pflueger, of “self dealing,” something which infuriates Pflueger who maintains he is a “good steward of the land.”
Multiple permits are required to work around a dam, but those weren’t obtained before the work in the area, according to state special investigator Robert Godbey.
Local Realtor Mike Dyer, who once managed the dam, reservoir and surrounding property for a former owner, says he visited Pflueger’s property in 1997 and saw construction around the reservoir, which he believed compromised the dam’s safety, so he took photos and says he faxed two letters to Pflueger calling attention to the fact that Pflueger had covered the spillway. The spillway, which Dyer describe as 15 to 20 feet wide concrete slab located just below the dam, was key to releasing water overflow safely. Without a spillway, he told Pflueger that if there was too much water flowing into the reservoir from heavy rains, it could overtop the dam, causing it to breach.
Mike and Shar Dyer
At the same time Dyer expressed his concern, a separate anonymous tip sent County’s Department of Public Works inspector to investigate Ka Loko on November 7, 1997 where he documented illegal grading with heavy equipment on the hilltop adjacent to Ka Loko Reservoir. Pflueger and his workers had leveled a 50-foot hill to create home sites. The inspector sent a “Notice of Grading Violation” by a certified letter to Pflueger saying inspectors “observed and verified the grading on the subject property to be in violation” of the County’s ordinances and ordered Pflueger to “stop work immediately with the exception of work to correct any hazards to public safety and health.”
But Pflueger did not stop work at Ka Loko. Instead, Pflueger, who told Hawaii Reporter in an exclusive interview in 2006 that he felt he was being harassed by inspectors, says he personally visited Mayor Maryanne Kusaka and gave her $9,000 cash. County records show that subsequently the stop work order was not enforced.
On Nov. 26, 1997, John Buist, Jr., a civil engineer for the county, says he was summoned by Mayor Kusaka to discuss Pflueger’s grading violation. Buist says the Mayor and the Assistant Administrator, Wallace Rezentes, Sr., questioned “why Mr. Pflueger should be required to obtain a permit for work in such a remote area.” Buist explained “the ordinance applied no matter how remote the site may be, and noted that this was not the first violation for which Mr. Pflueger had been cited.” But instead of the mayor coming down on Pflueger, Buist was told to “stop all actions involving Mr. Pflueger.”
Pflueger told Hawaii Reporter that he doesn’t remember any correspondence with Dyer and he does not recall ever seeing a spillway at Ka Loko. But he admitted that he could have covered the spillway himself: “And that reservoir around it is beautiful because I mowed it right down there to the edge. I did, mowed everything. I mowed everything. And if I filled something up or if somebody filled it up – tell me. Tell me. I mean, tell me,” Pflueger says.
Regardless if he covered the spillway, Pflueger says he is not responsible for the death and destruction that resulted from the dam breach. He blames former landowner, C. Brewer, and the Kilauea Irrigation Company’s manager, Tom Hitch, who through a 1987 water rights agreement distributed water from the reservoir to the farmers below. He says they should have noticed if he covered the spillway because they were in charge of maintaining the water system.
“Everything is covered with grass. Everything is covered with grass. Whatever happened, happened. I never saw the spillway. I don’t know where the damned thing is. But who is the operator of the dam? It is their responsibility. … But if I did it (cover the spillway), no problem. I don’t remember doing it, but if I did it, no problem.”
He also blames the State of Hawaii because the Department of Land and Natural Resources officers never paid him a visit, despite a 1987 law that says dams must be inspected every 5 years. (The DNLR director at the time of the breach, Peter Young, said Pflueger did not grant the DNLR access to his property).
The Indictments
Hawaii Attorney General Mark Bennett led the grand jury proceedings, despite an earlier protest last Tuesday from Pflueger’s attorney William McCorriston, who unsuccessfully aimed to have Bennett and his office prevented from heading the criminal investigation because he claimed Bennett has a conflict of interest being that the state could also prove culpable.
Bennett says he believes the evidence in the case justified the presentation to the grand jury, but that “an indictment is only an accusation and Pflueger is considered innocent unless and until he is found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a judge or jury.” He confirmed if convicted, Pflueger could be sentenced for up to 10 years in prison for each of the manslaughter counts.
Just after the indictment was filed, McCorriston held a press conference to announce his client’s outrage, saying that the 82-year-old Pflueger shouldn’t be subject to such legal proceedings because he infirmed with a heart condition, and moreover, because he is innocent. McCorriston says he will fight to move the criminal trial to Oahu or the Big Island and is considering waiving a jury trial because he doesn’t believe his client can get a fair trial on Kauai after “years of bad press.”
McCorriston also unsuccessfully attempted to move Pflueger’s civil trials from Kauai after they were consolidated in Kauai’s 5th Circuit, even taking his plea to the Hawaii Supreme Court.
Bennett says he will vigorously fight attempts to move the trial off the island. The vast majority of witnesses are on Kauai, and the some of the victims’ families say moving the trial would be difficult for them.
Two civil trials are scheduled in 2009: A wrongful death suit in February and a property damage suit in September 2010. So far, Fifth Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Watanabe has refused to reschedule the civil trials despite attempts from Pflueger’s legal team to get them delayed; but now that Pflueger has been indicted for Manslaughter and Reckless Endangering, the civil trials may have to wait until the criminal charges are resolved.
With off-network reruns of CSI: Miami and Criminal Minds, a deep roster of unscripted crime shows (The First 48, Dog the Bounty Hunter and Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force, premiering Dec. 9) and original series (The Cleaner and the upcoming The Beast), A&E is carving a niche as a law-and-order destination.
Bob DeBitetto, president and general manager of A&E Network and Bio Channel, talks to B&C‘s Marisa Guthrie about how he sees the network positioned during an economic downturn, when the financial crisis may impact television development and his prognosis for veteran reality shows Dog and Intervention.
It seems that at a time of great economic uncertainty, viewers are rejecting open-ended serials and frivolous dramedies for the black-and-white world of cops and criminals. Do you think any of that will matter as we head into hard times?
We’re all looking at a challenging year next year in television. All of us. There’s just no question about it. One of the things that you have to do to be successful is to read the tea leaves, to look forward, not backward.
It is fortuitous that some of the genres that we compete so well in are genres that people today are watching in greater numbers because some of the alternatives seem more frivolous in today’s serious economic climate. We like where we are right now. Maybe in a few years we’ll stick our finger up in the air again and see where things are.
The economic crisis has softened the scatter market. When does the recession begin to impact development?
Everybody is looking to first quarter as a major indicator of what 2009 is going to be like. Despite all the bad news, the fourth quarter has remained remarkably robust for us. If the retail spending numbers are really as bad as everybody thinks they might be this holiday season, that’s when [advertisers] might really decide to cut back on ad spending in the first quarter.
There are a couple of things that are fiscally in favor of A&E right now. Broadcast networks continue to see extremely alarming losses in audience. And some of those audiences are going to cable.
There’s a similar phenomenon going on in advertising spending. We’re seeing the migration of advertising dollars from broadcast to cable. The CPM differential makes cable extremely attractive. In challenging economic times everybody is looking at their ROI and saying where can we most effectively place our ad dollar? I think cable offers a very attractive alternative in a difficult economic environment.
That’s not to say cable’s going to have a banner year next year. We’re certainly all battening down the hatches and taking a close look at our plans.
What is the future of Dog and Intervention?
When you look at the network the last few years, if there is any one thing in terms of nuts and bolts and why we have succeeded, it’s the consistency of our ability to develop, launch and sustain franchises. Not just a show that comes and goes after one or two seasons, but franchises that have staying power for three, four, five, six seasons.
This year, Intervention is having its highest ratings ever, and not by a little bit—50% over last year [in adults 18-49]. So when do I see them ending? I don’t. In those two shows we haven’t seen any indicators yet that maybe we’re getting close to [the end]. We look for it. We haven’t seen it.
Several years ago, A&E paid a lot of money for The Sopranos, which had to be stripped of all cussing, nudity and a lot of violence. In hindsight assess that decision.
If we had it to do all over again, I absolutely would.
Why?
At that time, a few years ago, A&E was in a very different place. We needed an A-triple-plus premium platform that was going to vault us to the next level not only in terms of brand and in terms of network perception, but in terms of a true premium property that we could bring into the ad marketplace to move us forward. If I showed you the list of between 50 and 100 clients that came to us and bought the network who had never bought the network before The Sopranos, you would see what I’m getting at. That franchise led such advancements in the ad marketplace. It really sort of vaulted the network to a new plateau.
I honestly don’t think the network would be where it is today in terms of brand perception and viewership but mostly in terms of CPM pricing and in terms of client mix. I just don’t think we would be in the same place. BMW is one example. BMW never bought A&E before The Sopranos. BMW has been a client ever since. Many many premium clients started to think of our network differently.
Now, given how it performed on the network, would I have preferred to pay less for that franchise? Absolutely. But nevertheless if I had it to do again, I would have absolutely done it again. So there has been a method to this. You just don’t necessarily see it when you look at it from the outside.
Credit to http://www.broadcastingcable.com. More infomation there.
DM
Today we received our Elite Membership Package from the Dogthebountyhunter.com Online Fan Club. We were quite surprised at what was in the envelope, and quite underwhelmed. We receieved a Tshirt, an autographed picture of the whole crew including Tim and a copied form letter welcoming us to too the Club.
It looked to us like the Crew Picture was a photocopy and not handsigned. We took the picture to a local store that specializes in signatures. The picture was indeed a copy of the signatures. We were shocked that for $69.95, we received a Tshirt and a picture worth a buck or two. Even with the limited membership we see, the crew did not take time to even sign a picture for a fan paying a lot of money. The membership includes access the site. We will review that in the near future.
Our advice is if you are going to join the Official Fan Club, DO NOT buy the expensive membership. Purchase the Premium Membership for $29.95 and save yourself forty dollars. We are quite angry that we were charged forty dollars more for a non-handsigned photograph that many celebrities send out for free.
We were astonished that considering the fan support that Dog has received to help free him from the Mexican charges as well as the show being yanked, that his fan club would charge $40 more for a non-personalized, non-hand signed photocopied picture of the crew.
Save yourself some money and do not buy the Elite package. It is anything, but Elite. My assistant remarked that she would have sent the package back for a refund if it was not paid for by our office. A real sad statement and seems to be indicative of a very poor fan club that charges an exorbitant amount of money for membership
Douglas Muire
Chicago
P.S. We love the show, but very very disappointed in the fan club at this point.
UPDATE: A reader informs us that the exact copied autographs you receive when you join the site, may be obtained for free elsewhere.
Dog the Bounty Hunter has become the highest-rated show in A&E history. After two successful seasons of busting bad guys on bond and a third season already underway, the second season of the wildly popular show makes its way to DVD in Dog the Bounty Hunter: The Best of Season 2. We caught up with everyone’s favorite bounty hunter, Duane “Dog” Chapman, as he gets set for his upcoming wedding and picked his brain on everything from his ongoing battle to quit smoking, his troubled past growing up in Denver, to how he now goes after people given the show’s popularity and whether he ever worries about getting shot on the job.
UGO: How are the wedding plans coming along?
DUANE “DOG” CHAPMAN: Well, she hasn’t got a dress yet. We’ve got a place where we’re going to get married. I’m just glad the husband isn’t in charge of this stuff. But, how do I say this properly – I’m marrying my common-law wife the Christian way on May 20th. We’ve been together many years as husband and wife but the Christians are like, “Yeah, well, he’s not even married,” so I don’t want to make anyone upset, especially when I’m praying, you know, and especially crazy Beth. She’s as crazy as what you see on TV.
UGO: A crazy woman can sometimes be good for a guy.
DOG: Yeah, I have to have one.
UGO: So, Hulk Hogan is going to be at the ceremony. How did you guys become friends?
DOG: Well, years and years ago I met the Hulk in Hawaii and he does things on a larger scale, literally, like I do, slamming people, you know. He had heard about us on some arrest we did and believe it or not, he came to find me. What a really decent guy. His kids were little babies then and now Hulk Hogan’s got his own show, Hogan Knows Best. As a matter of fact, it’s my second most favorite show, mine’s first, of course. We just met him here in LA, so I said, “Listen brother, we need to do some celebrity ride-alongs.” Then he asked, “Why do you want to do that?” That’s when I said, “Listen, Hulk, when the guy meets you, I can use you as a reference and say, ‘OK, this day that you met the Hulk, is that enough reference for you to grab on to and say I met the Hulk and I’m changing my life from this day on?’” The Hulk was like, “That’s great,” so we’re trying to get him on a ride-along.
UGO: How are you doing with the battle to quit smoking?
DOG: I’m going to get hypnotized today. I’m down to about 10 cigarettes a day. She’s constantly on me, man. I feel like I’m in prison, you know. I went from 4 packs a day, to about 10 cigarettes a day. I’m in LA right now and I’m going to get hypnotized today because I’ve heard a lot people say that it really works. I mean, it’s very hard. I’ve never been hooked on any kind of drug or any of that, so I haven’t been through the “cold turkey” stuff. But, I’m telling you, this is a terrible habit, especially when you get older and it’s hard to quit. It’s a challenge. I mean, it’s incredible, last night I felt like crying. It’s hard, brah!
UGO: Yeah, it’s tough for a lot of people.
DOG: Well, you know, they were telling me to go to the Betty Ford clinic for cigarettes. I told them, “Whatever works.” So, I’m going to quit. I have to quit; I’m on television. A kid the other day was [looking up to] “The Dog” and his mother called me and he had his little handcuffs, and she said that just as he grabbed the neighbor to arrest him, he grabbed a stick and put it in his mouth. How could I say, “Lord, keep me safe and keep me well,” when that happened? In my life, I’m not slow and I’m not stupid, but I think God shows it to me in color, so I have to quit.
UGO: I’ve heard that you always wanted to be a cop. What lead you to the other side of the tracks if that’s what you always wanted to become?
DOG: Well, I always wanted to be a cop, but at this age I can look back and see where I turned. When I was at school in Denver, Colorado in the early ’60s, we had something called integration and they bussed, of course, the white boys to the school with Mexicans, black guys and people with darker skin. I ended up being the only white boy in the school and I had to fight for my right to breathe. Once I started boxing and winning a couple of fights, I took karate, and with fighting and all of that violence comes those kinds of friends. I had to hang around bikers and groups of gangs to be able to save my lunch money. I’m almost half Cherokawa Indian, but I still have blue eyes, and I was considered the half-breed white boy, so I had to put up or shut up. Then, of course, three or four years later, they realized not to do this to kids and they quit that, but I was already ruined by then. So, that had a lot to do with it. I went to school in the ghetto. My dad had two jobs and he had a nice house, but I was bussed to where they barely even had a house. I didn’t hear four-letter words when I was 12 years old. I had never heard anyone cuss before; I didn’t even know that stuff. A day or two into school, I was like, “Oh, my God. What is this?” Really! I wasn’t going to give up my lunch money, so I had to start fighting. And, of course, like I say, that leads to friends that fight and that leads to gangs. So at 14 years of age, I became a member of a gang, and for the next eight years, it ruined my life
UGO: Given the success and popularity of the show over the past two seasons, I’ve heard that Da Kine Bail Bonds actually took a 60% hit in business because the office has been flooded with calls. You didn’t have to go back to selling Kirby vacuum cleaners, did you?
DOG: [laughs] No, thank God, but it did. You know, we’d get calls like, “Dog, thank you, please talk to my son,” and we’d get stalker calls like, “I’m going to kill you, you freak.” Then, the people that call for bail, of course, our line is busy so they go to the next guy in the book. Our bail bonds business has taken a severe hit. Even though we keep getting more lines, we still get more calls. I mean, we got more calls the other day than the bank. Every second, the phone rings, I mean every second. I’m not complaining about it, you know, but I need to not run out of jumps [bail jumpers].
UGO: Now that so many people recognize you after two seasons, how have you changed the way you go after people?
DOG: Well, the exact same way. I’m an optimist, so I use that to my advantage. I was many years with Anthony Robbins, the motivational speaker from the ’80s on, and he became my good friend. I took all of his classes and all of his courses. A lot of his stuff is body language and reading people. Of course, I’ve done bounty hunting since the ’70s, so I have to be able to read a guy from a block way, his walk and his talk to stay alive. Is he packin’, or is he not? Tony Robbins taught me a lot and fine-tuned a lot of intuition that’s deep inside me. When I was a kid, and if I’d just had a beer, I’d sit at a stop sign, and on the other side of the street there was a cop and I’d go, “Oh, my God. I have to look forward. I have to sit up straight. I can’t look at him.” Then a block later, the cop pulls me over and I’d ask, “Why did you pull me over?” The cop said, “Well, you looked like a scarecrow. You’re frozen, driving the car. I knew something was wrong.” So, he read my body language. It’s the same with me. Beth and I went into K-Mart the other day and a guy took off running over the hill and the clerk said, “Dog, there goes one of your victims, one of your children.” So it’s easier, because they know. In bounty hunting with law enforcement, a bounty is known and is respected by his reputation, and the cops know, even though I’m on the totem pole of law enforcement, I know my position is on the bottom. When they drive up, I treat them as big brother. As if they said, “I command you to stand over there, Dog, right now!” And I’d say, “Yes, sir!” I show that respect and I don’t try to showboat with the cops there. As long as you’re respectful, it’s a lot easier.
UGO: Given what’s going on in the world today, how important is it to give people hope, even the bad guys?
DOG: You know, it’s everything to give people hope. I mean, if I didn’t have any, I’d be the president of a huge outlaw motorcycle gang, or something, I think. It’s very important to show that. There are so many people, brother, that are out there that made a mistake in their life and they’re not really career criminals, and their blood isn’t turned to that yet, but they’re wondering what they should do. I think that by giving them a little hope or encouragement, that’s what I’m here for. I’m in charge of the thieves, you know. That’s who God has given me, so to speak, as a flock. If you look at it right, brother, it’s like a ministry. I asked myself last year, “Why do I have to have these guys?” Then I read in the Bible where it says, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first,” so I thought my guys will be at the front of the line. Now, I’m proud of that. It sounds funny, doesn’t it, but I’m really proud of being in charge of those guys. I’m like the guy on the back of a train, the caboose, who has this lantern and he goes, “All aboard!” Once they shut the door, the train is gone. A guy told me the other day when I was arresting him, he told me, “Dog, you’re like the guy on the caboose who yells all aboard. I’ve got to listen to you, you’re my last hope.” That stuff there, you go home with in your heart and you lie down and say, “Lord, thank you for this day and keep us all alive tomorrow. This is a great life, please help it to keep going.” And, of course, “Please don’t let me get shot!”
UGO: How much do you actually worry about getting shot? Is it on your mind a lot of the time?
DOG: Oh yeah, brother, every time. There are more times than others, especially when you get a crazy looking guy in a mug shot. I get alone in a room and I start looking at it and someone on the shoulder goes, “Yeah, this is the guy. You see those eyes, this is the guy that’s going to put the bullet in you.” So, I fight that fear. I don’t dwell on it because I don’t allow myself to, but once I get the guy in cuffs and I got him, I go, “Whew! That’s done.” But, yeah, it’s an every day thought.
UGO: So what do you like to do when you just have time to yourself, just Dog time? What type of music do you listen to?
DOG: I’m into some modern music and I like rap now. I used to not like rap, but I do now. I like good old-fashioned rock and roll, Lynnard Skynnard style, you know. I also like Spanish-Mexican music too. Elevator music, believe it or not, the other day I turned it on and went to sleep and I was like, “Boy, this is good sleeping music.” Music is a big part of my life, though. You know how a boxer, just before he gets into the ring, he walks down that final path and he gets into the ring and his song is jammin’? Well, I have this iPod on my glasses from Oakley. Just before I go out the door, I’ve got these songs hooked on it, like, “I fought the law and the Dog won!” Yeah, I know I’m crazy, but I go out the door with that blasting. Once we catch them, we have another song and we play it for them and say, “This song’s for you.” Music plays a huge part in a bounty hunter’s life, at least in our life.
UGO: In the second season, you had to capture one of your own, Ili, and she had to go back to jail? How’s she doing?
DOG: Ili got ten years for burning that house down, so she’ll do three of the ten years. I send her $40 once in a while and she called last week. She’s the inmate counselor. She’s going inside the cells and counseling the people in prison where she is. Ili’s doing a very good job
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Duane “Dog” Chapman and his bounty-hunting kin are apparently waging a legal battle with the Krutonog family.
The Dog the Bounty Hunter star and his wife Beth filed a lawsuit Thursday in Honolulu’s First Circuit Court against their former publicist Maureen Kedes Krutonog and her Los Angeles-based Vertex Communications Co., the Pacific Business News reported Friday.
The lawsuit alleges Krutonog sold confidential and “fictional stories” about the A&E star and his family to the National Enquirer and other tabloids, according to the Pacific
According to the lawsuit, Krutonog sold the storier because she wanted revenge on the Chapmans, who fired her in late 2005 or early 2006 after she’d worked for them for less than a year.
“Although she was hired by Mr. Chapman to protect his public image, plaintiffs believe that she instead sold stories that damaged his career,” states the lawsuit, according to Pacific Business News. “[Krutonog is] the Benedict Arnold of the publicity world.”
While the lawsuit doesn’t delve into specifics about the information shared or sold by Krutonog, it allegedly dealt with “personal histories, relationships and business… not being a matter of general knowledge,” according to Pacific Business News.
In addition, the lawsuit reportedly accuses Krutonog of blocking calls related to Chapman’s availability for “appearances, engagements and auditions.”
Chapman’s lawsuit comes five months after Krutonog’s husband Boris sued Dog the Bounty Hunter’s producers for at least $5 million he alleges they owe him in royalties, salary and other compensation.
The Russian-born actor accused that A&E Television Networks, Dog the Bounty Hunter producer David Houts and his production companies breached their contract with him. Boris sought compensatory and unspecified punitive damages.
In addition, on the same day Chapman and his wife sued Maureen, his sons Duane Lee Chapman II and Leland Chapman and family associate Tim Chapman filed a separate suit against Boris, according to the Pacific Business News.
The three men reportedly describe Boris — who has appeared in such films as Air Force One, The Hunt for Red October and The Italian Job — as a “struggling actor” who represented them in contract negotiations with A&E from 2003 to 2006.
In the lawsuit, they reportedly allege Boris created a secret deal “that called for him to receive more compensation than the show’s stars” by getting a bigger share of the reality show’s profits.
Both Chapman lawsuits accuse the Krutonogs of fraud, misrepresentation and breach of fiduciary duty, according to the Pacific Business News, which added neither lawsuit specifies the damages sought.
Dog the Bounty Hunter’s fifth season premiered this summer after A&E had suspended production on it and pulled reruns of the its first four seasons off its primetime schedule last November when a taped phone conversation in which Duane could be heard repeatedly using the N-word was made public by the National Enquirer.
Despite the Chapmans’ lawsuit against Maureen, Pacific Business News reported it doesn’t appear that she was involved in the controversy due to the timing of her relationship with the family
Credit
Christopher Rocchio, 10/27/2008
