Claro, Dog está do lado certo da lei atualmente, trazendo criminosos e defendendo o que é certo. Mas nem sempre foi assim. Seu primeiro contato com a fama começou há muito tempo, ao sul da fronteira com os Estados Unidos.
As if Duane Chapman’s life wasn’t interesting enough, the man actually has a near-miss on his record after a run-in with Mexican authorities.
Dog makes his money today with reality shows, bounty hunter work, and some other miscellaneous sources. But back before his big break, Dog was on a shoestring budget and needed some cash.
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The thing is, Dog was also a convict, which kept him from getting more “respectable” jobs. Yes, Duane was convicted of first-degree murder as he was the getaway car when a friend of his killed someone in a robbery gone wrong.
By 1979, though, Dog was out of jail and working toward a better life. Plus, tackling an inmate who attempted to escape would give him the inspiration for his future career.
As Chapman recounted in an interview, Fox News notes, the guard who congratulated him on a good tackle literally said, “Hook him up, bounty hunter.” But that was before Chapman landed in a Mexican jail for breaking the law in that country, too.
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The way Dog tells it, he was arrested in Mexico for being too good at his job. Basically, the laws in Mexico say that bail bondsmen can’t track people down or hold them against their will.
After apprehending fugitive Andrew Luster, who was wanted in the US for 86 counts of crimes against women, Dog, his son, and a friend of theirs were pulled over by Mexican police. All four of them went to jail, but Mexico extradited Luster to the US to face trial.
The story goes that the trio was initially denied bail, but once Beth Chapman alerted the media in the United States, the three were then able to go home. However, the adventure wasn’t over yet.
The Chapmans had gone back to their home in Hawaii (Dog’s colleague was also named Chapman, but no relation), but Mexican authorities maintained that the three didn’t have permission to leave the country while on bail. Right before the statute of limitations would have run out on the case, the three were arrested a second time.
Luckily for the would-be jailbirds, an endorsement from US lawmakers, including 29 Republican congressmen, plus a Hawaiian state resolution (the Chapmans were arrested in Honolulu the second time), led to the court dragging out Dog’s case.
Discussões tediosas sobre a natureza das acusações (seja crime ou contravenção) também ocuparam algumas horas no tribunal. Em última análise, observou Monsters and Critics , o caso foi encerrado pelos tribunais mexicanos porque o prazo de prescrição expirou na ordem de prisão.
Que viagem!