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Joe Francis Due In Court On Arraignment Charge

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May 22, 2007 8:37 am US/Pacific

Joe Francis Due In Court On Arraignment Charge

"Girls Gone Wild" CEO Allegedly Groped Woman At A Hollywood Club In January

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HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (CBS) ― Joe Francis, the man behind the sexually explicit "Girls Gone Wild" videos will be arraigned Tuesday in on a misdemeanor sexual battery charge involving an 18-year-old woman at a birthday party in Hollywood.

Francis is accused of repetitively touching the breast, buttocks and inner thigh of a woman who asked him not to touch her at a Jan. 10 party, according to Frank Mateljan of the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

If Francis is convicted, he faces a maximum of six months in jail and a $2,000 fine.

This charge is the latest in a number of legal woes for Francis. In April, he was sentenced to 35 days in a Florida jail for contempt of court in a civil case. He also was indicted in Nevada last month for tax evasion.

In January, U.S. District Judge Margaret Morrow in Los Angeles fined Francis $200,000 and ordered him to perform 200 hours of community service for violating record-keeping requirements designed to prevent exploitation of minors.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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