Police arrested “Girls Gone Wild” douchebag Joe Francis yesterday after he failed to arrive on time for a court hearing. Joe claimed the flu caused him to be over five hours late to a court hearing on his attorney’s motion to step down as his counsel.

He ultimately showed up at 1:30, with lawyer Melissa A. Weinberger telling the court her client was suffering from the flu.

“He’s been as sick as can be,” she said outside the courtroom, adding that she would try to secure his release as soon as he was processed by federal marshals.

As for the MO behind the court date: Defense attorney Robert E. Barnes, who has been representing Francis on federal income tax evasion charges, filed court papers last week stating that his firm was through with the flesh-peddling entrepreneur due to “strategic differences of opinion.”

Francis has pleaded not guilty to felony tax evasion. He has been accused of deducting more than $20 million in bogus business expenses from his corporate returns in 2002 and 2003.

Joe spent the last few years being plagued by legal troubles: on March 12, 2008, he was convicted on child abuse and prostitution charges. He got off relatively easy, with time served (339 days behind bars), and $66,000 in fines.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 9:30 am and is filed under Joe Francis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.