"Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis is being released from a Nevada jail so he can return to Florida to face charges related to the filming of underage girls.
His lawyer told a federal judge in Reno on Monday that Florida has agreed to lift its no-bail arrest warrant against the filmmaker, who is being held here on federal tax fraud charges.
Francis, accompanied by his lawyers, was to travel to the East Coast on Tuesday, and appear in a Panama City, Fla., courtroom the following day to resolve charges from the 2003 filming of girls during spring break, defense lawyer Fred Atcheson said during a brief hearing before U.S. Magistrate Robert McQuaid.
"Florida is not going to arrest him," Atcheson told the court. "What happens in Florida, I believe, will conclude the matter."
Atcheson gave the court a $1.5 million cashier's check to cover Francis' bail on the tax charges, and assured the judge that other conditions required for his release also would be met.
Francis, who turns 35 on April 1, has been jailed on both sides of the country for nearly a year, caught in a tug-of-war between federal prosecutors in Nevada and state attorneys in Florida.
[yahoo]
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