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Report: #74476

Complaint Review: Mantra Films Inc. - Girls Gone Wild - Panama California

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  • Reported By: Elkhart Indiana
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  • Mantra Films Inc. - Girls Gone Wild PO Box 150 Hollywood Panama, California U.S.A.

Mantra Films Inc. (Girls Gone Wild) Busted! ..awwwww, too bad....NOT! More Than 100 Warrants Served Against 'Girls Gone Wild' Crew Hollywood California


FOX 6 investigative reporter John Mattes first broke the story how Girls Gone Wild was marketing videos for only $9.99 consumers found the company tacking on huge fees. Thousands of consumers called it a rip-off on ripoffreport. After our story aired an attorney sued calling it deceptive advertising. Video part 1 Video part 2

*Consumer Comment: WHO WANTS TO SEE THIS WILD -*** S*** ANYWAY?

*Consumer Comment: Notice of settlement

*Consumer Comment: Sometimes the system works!

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Maybe this'll bring some satisfaction to the 200-plus complaint posts on Rip-Off Report for non-delivery of product and other problems. This couldn't have happened to a slimier group of bottom-feeders.
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More Than 100 Warrants Served Against 'Girls Gone Wild' Crew

-WHATDAYISIT? EDITION-
PANAMA CITY, FLA-- More than 100 criminal warrants have been served against three companies, the creator of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series and a camera operator stemming from a film crew's spring break visit to the Florida Panhandle.

Producer Joe Francis, 30, of Las Vegas, voluntarily appeared Thursday to be processed on 22 charges stemming from his arrest on April 2 with three employees. They were arrested at nearby Panama City Beach, one of the nation's leading spring break destinations, where they were filming videos.

The mail-order videos feature nudity and sexual activity. The charges include racketeering, procuring minors for sexual acts, filming minors engaged in sexual performances, and conspiracy to commit those offenses.

Francis also is facing drug and lewdness charges. A camera operator, Mark D. Schmitz, 26, also is facing similar charges. Both are free on bond.

Also charged are Francis' company, Mantra Films Inc., Aero Falcons LLC and MRA Holding LLC. The companies each face about 20 charges.

Mantra has disputed the charges, contending crews always ask young women their age and film only those who say they are 18 or older.

The charges are based largely on about 175 hours of tapes Bay County sheriff's deputies seized during a raid at a condominium rented by the "Girls Gone Wild" staff.

State Attorney Jim Appleman said only about half the footage has been viewed so far and it could take three more weeks to complete the investigation. He said more charges could be filed. The challenge for investigators is to identify females on the videos and verify their ages, he said.

They have been doing that by determining when the footage was taken, figuring which colleges were on spring break then and contacting the schools, Appleman said.

Circuit Judge Dedee Costello signed an order Wednesday returning a business jet owned by Aero Falcons and leased to Mantra that deputies seized April 2.

The investigation began after a 16-year-old girl told her parents that she and four friends had been videotaped performing sexual acts at a hotel. Deputies said they searched six rooms and found pornographic footage of five local girls, all 16 or 17 years old.

Adolph
South Bend, Indiana
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 12/08/2003 09:20 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/mantra-films-inc-girls-gone-wild/panama-california-90078/mantra-films-inc-girls-gone-wild-busted-awwwww-too-badnot-more-than-100-warran-74476. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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#3 Consumer Comment

WHO WANTS TO SEE THIS WILD -*** S*** ANYWAY?

AUTHOR: Joe - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, February 22, 2009

IT'S JUST A BUNCH OF ARROGANT, DRUNK,OVERINDULLGED AND PRIVILEGED COLLEGE AGED b*****S ACTING LIKE HOs WHO THINK THEY ARE GOD'S GIFT TO THE WORLD AND THAT THEY CAN TAKE OFF THEIR SHIRTS OR THEIR CLOTHES AND EVERYONE WANTS TO SEE...

AND THEY ARE USUALLY DRUNK ON THEIR *** WHEN THEY DO IT TOO.

OR THEY HAVE BEEN SMOKING WEED OR TAKING SOME OTHER DRUGS.

OR MAYBE THEY AREN'T ON ANYTHING AND DO NOT REALIZE THAT ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES!

HOW WOULD THY FEEL WHEN THEIR FUTURE HUSBAND SEES THEM WHEN HE IS AT SOME FRAT PARTY OR JUST HAPPENS UPON A COPY OF THAT VIDEO. HE WILL PROBABLY THINK THAT SINCE IT IS THAT EAST FOR HER TO PEEL THOSE CLOTHES OFF THAT MAYBE SHE HAS HAD A LOT OF GUYS AND NOT TOO MANY GUYS i KNOW WANT TO MARRY OR GET SERIOUS WITH A GAL WHO HAS DONE EVERY MAN IN PANTS AND MAYBE SOME WOMEN TOO ...

NO YOUNG LADY IN HER RIGHT MIND WOULD BE IN SUCH TRASH.

I DON'T KNOW WHY ANYONE WOULD WANT TO PAY GOOD MONEY FOR THIS WHEN THEY CAN GO TO THEIR FRIENDLY TOPLESS BAR AND SEE THE SAME SORT OF STUFF.

GIRLS GONE WILD HAS TO BE THE MOST STUPID, EXPLOITATIVE,INANE EXCUSE FOR ENTERTAINMENT EVER AND NONE OF THE WOMEN IN MY FAMILY HAVE EVER APPEARED IN IT OR WOULD EVEN CONSIDER APPEARING IN IT.

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#2 Consumer Comment

Notice of settlement

AUTHOR: Steve - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, February 22, 2009

I received a postcard in the mail.


Problem is I don't know how many videos they sent. There is no way to find on the credit card statements and I should have kept record which I didn't.

All someone had to do was claim identity theft at the time and this company really would have been screwed.

Its amazing what people will do to get the attention.


I also recall seeing on E channel with that dirt ball on the tv wee hours in the morning and showing off and thinking one day you will get your turn you watch.


Why would anyone get underage girls when they know they were breaking the law?

Of course to show off.

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#1 Consumer Comment

Sometimes the system works!

AUTHOR: Tim - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, December 09, 2003

Thanks for posting that, Adolph. That was some good reading. These guys, and their companies, are absolute slimeballs. If you watch their videos, which I shamefully admit that I have (for about five minutes, after that the endless solicitation and brief flashes get a little tired) you will note that what they do is put young, usually drunk girls on the spot and use heavy coercion to entice them into what we all know is the conetnt of a GGW video. And by heavy coercion, I mean HEAVY coercion. Mind you many of these girls would have been willing to do it anyways, and many of them don't need much coercion. But the mixture of peer pressure, alchohol, and sometimes outright begging by the producers almost certainly results in a number of girls performing acts that they otherwise would not have consented to, especially not on a video that will be widely distributed.

Beyond that, there is the recurrent billing scam, and the other various means they use to defraud the consumer. Hopefully this is what the racketeering charge is all about. It would be nice to see a criminal charge stick for these kinds of activities, maybe it would put the many other companies that do he same thing on notice that the law is finally coming to the aid of the victims of recurrent billing schemes.

Lets hope this investigation pans out for the prosecutors down there. It will probably be of little help to their defense that they ask the girls their ages before they put them in the final videos. Videotaping a minor in a state of undress or in a sexual act is illegal whether or not you plan on publishing it. Even if they asked the girls their ages before videotaping them they could probably still be found guilty. Most statutes regarding sex and minors are strict liability, meaning that your intent doesn't matter and it is not a defense that you were deceived as to the person's real age. Even if intent does matter, "recklessness" would probably count under these circumstances.

Let's all cross our fingers!

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