Post by DogsFan on Oct 13, 2005 10:11:47 GMT -5
Chapman, Duane Lee
Feb. 2, 1952- Bounty hunter
2005 Biography from Current Biography
In June 2003 the dramatic capture in Mexico of Andrew Luster, a fugitive rapist and heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune, was reported widely in the media. Most accounts mentioned a shadowy American bounty hunter who had tracked down and apprehended Luster in order to bring him to justice. That captor was Duane "Dog" Chapman, a reformed ex-convict who calls himself the "greatest bounty hunter in the world." In his singular career on the fringes of law enforcement, Chapman has claimed, he has captured 6,000 fugitives, mostly so-called bail jumpers--those indicted for felonies (serious crimes including rape, murder, drug offenses, and robbery) who flee either before their cases go to trial or during their trials. Chapman, who is currently the subject of an A&E television reality series, will hunt down anyone with a warrant out for his or her arrest, including those on the FBI's most-wanted list. He has said, as quoted on the A&E Web site, "I don't care if went into hell. I'll find him."
The oldest of four children, Duane Chapman was born on February 2, 1952. He grew up in Denver, Colorado. His father, Wesley, was a welder in the U.S. Navy; his mother, Barbara, was a minister in the First Assemblies of God. In an autobiographical profile posted on his Web site (dogthebountyhunter.com), Chapman described his father as verbally and emotionally abusive. (The two grew closer before the older man's death.) During his youth Chapman lived in Texas and other parts of the U.S. and pursued a life of crime. According to his Web site, as an adolescent he was arrested 18 times for armed robbery. In Texas he joined a motorcycle gang called the Devil's Disciples. In 1976 he and a number of other members of the Devil's Disciples were arrested for the murder of a local pimp and drug dealer. Although Chapman insisted that a fellow gang member had acted alone in killing the man, he was found guilty for his alleged role in the murder, and in 1977 a Texas court sentenced him to five years of hard labor. By his own account, while serving time in a Texas state penitentiary, Chapman found God (he has said that his nickname comes from the word "God" spelled backward) and vowed to reform his life. He was paroled in 1979. He has often pointed to his prison experience as a motivation for his work, in which, as he has often described it, he enables lawbreakers to arrive at a point in their lives at which they will be inspired to "go straight"--that is, give up their old ways and adopt a more principled and moral life style. "It's why I hunt men--fugitives of the law," Chapman wrote for his Web site. "I am what rehabilitation stands for."
Before his arrest Chapman had fathered at least one child, and after his release from prison, he still owed child support to the mother. According to Chapman, the judge presiding over the child-support case agreed to pay $200 toward the debt if Chapman caught a fugitive for him. Chapman earned his first bounty, he has said, by tying the wanted man up with his belt. He thereby launched his career. Soon, his Web site reported, he was capturing as many as four fugitives a week.
Bounty hunters are also known as bail enforcement agents (BEAs) or fugitive recovery agents--terms that Chapman dislikes. A BEA is an individual (or group of individuals--an agency, for example) who, in exchange for payment, apprehends people who have failed to appear as ordered while on bond or bail and surrenders them to the presiding authorities. Bail entails the temporary release of a suspect or prisoner in a criminal case in exchange for money or other collateral--usually a bond or formal guarantee provided on the suspect's behalf by a bail agent--meant to ensure that prisoner's eventual return to hear the case against him or her in court. Every year many people "jump," or flee, while free on bail, traveling to other states or countries or otherwise attempting to hide from the authorities. Such individuals represent the majority of the fugitives Chapman and those in his line of work track and capture.
According to Chapman's Web site, every year bounty hunters and BEAs capture an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people who have jumped bail. Stephen Kreimer, the executive director of Professional Bail Agents of the United States (PBUS), told Current Biography that there are approximately 1,100 BEAs in the United States. Chapman's Web site puts the number at 8,000. That discrepancy has arisen in part because there is no standard system for regulating or licensing BEAs or bounty hunters; regulations on BEAs vary from state to state, with some states maintaining rigorous licensing and training requirements and others exerting little control. (There is broad concern within law-enforcement communities about the activities of bounty hunters--their capturing of fugitives, though ostensibly acts of justice, has been likened to kidnapping--and legislation calling for better regulation of the profession has been introduced in the U.S. Congress.) The legal precedent for bounty hunters in the U.S. was set in the 1872 U.S. Supreme Court case Taylor v. Taintor; that ruling gave bounty hunters broad authority in carrying out their duties. A growing number of states, however, have since legally restricted the activities of bounty hunters; for example, some have required them to undergo background checks and sanctioned training, or have prohibited their use of firearms.
In the profile of his life and work posted on his Web site, Chapman stated that he did not want to be simply an informer who tracks a fugitive and tells the authorities of his whereabouts; rather, he wanted to be the one to physically apprehend the fugitive, "to look the guy in the face when I brought him in and see the entire process through." On his Web site he has posted lists of his past captures and pictures of the most-wanted fugitives still at large. In trying to track down those who have fled the law, Chapman seeks, in his words, "relatives [of the fugitives], friends, anyone who might be willing to help bring the fugitive in. . . . Seventy percent of all my captures happen because some good ole American has turned them in by giving me information." Among the high-profile fugitives Chapman has singlehandedly captured or helped to apprehend are Quinton Wortham, a man convicted of rape in Washington, D.C.; Wayne Williams, a child murderer from Altanta; and William Scatarie, a white supremacist and murderer. (The captures and escapades Chapman described on his Web site have not all been independently verified.) "Dog's a genius at the practical side of humanity, especially when it comes to understanding the criminal mind," the well-known author and motivational speaker Anthony Robbins is quoted as saying of Chapman on the latter's Web site. "He's the best in the world at what he does." (Robbins wrote of Chapman in his book Awaken the Giant Within [1991].)
On his Web site Chapman cautioned that many fugitives are armed and dangerous. "I like to hear that God goes before us, because he is the biggest bulletproof vest of all," he once wrote. (As a former felon, he is not allowed to carry a gun.) Chapman has admitted that he has often showered a just-captured fugitive with choice expletives, a habit that is part of what he euphemistically refers to on his Web site as "holding court in the street." He has told many of them, as quoted on the A&E Web site, "Twelve men can judge you or six men can carry you. You decide." As tough as he appears to be, Chapman is not impervious to fear. "I'm a normal guy," he acknowledged on his Web site. "I'm scared all the time." As an example, he recalled one particular capture in which he and a number of his small children duped a dangerous heroin dealer into surrendering without a fight. Chapman and his children had shined flashlights into the cabin in the Colorado mountains in which the criminal was hiding out, leading the fugitive to believe that he was surrounded by many armed federal agents. The man was furious at having been fooled. "When [the suspect] said that he was going to kill me, well, that shook me up for a pretty long time," Chapman wrote.
As payment for their efforts, bounty hunters are often promised between 10 and 15 percent of the bail set for a given fugitive. Chapman has estimated that he has been paid for fewer than half of the more than 6,000 fugitives he has captured, because bondsmen do not always have the required cash on hand. (Chapman has said that he has been offered watches, old trucks, and, once, even a puppy in lieu of money.) Indeed, despite certain stereotypes to the contrary, making a living as a bounty hunter is not easy; Stephen Kreimer told Current Biography that only a small percentage of bounty hunters can support themselves by practicing the trade.
Chapman made headlines for his involvement in the case of Andrew Luster, a great-grandson of Max Factor, who had built a cosmetics empire in the 1920s. On January 3, 2003, while on trial in California for drugging and raping three women, Luster fled during a court recess. (He was convicted in absentia of the crimes.) In June of that year, Chapman, his brother, and one of his sons tracked Luster to Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico's Pacific coast, and took him into custody. Chapman has offered no detailed accounts of how they restrained Luster; a bystander reported a scuffle to the police, who then arrested Chapman and the others working with him. (Bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico.) In late June Luster was deported by Mexican authorities to the U.S. and was taken into custody by FBI agents. Shortly afterward, Chapman and his helpers returned from Mexico as well. While some observers viewed Chapman as a hero and an enforcer of justice, the episode highlighted the murky legal territory in which bounty hunters operate. Although he estimated that he was owed about $350,000 for the capture, Chapman was denied payment of a percentage of Luster's bail. "[Chapman] went to Mexico and failed to comply with the law," California Superior Court judge Edward Brodie said, as quoted on CBSNews.com (August 6, 2003). "I cannot condone vigilante justice." Chapman accepted the ruling but has rejected the notion that he and other bounty hunters are vigilantes who obstruct the work of official law-enforcement agencies.
Chapman owns several bail-bonding businesses in Hawaii, where he settled in the late 1980s, and Colorado. According to Stephen Kreimer and PBUS, there are 14,000 licensed or appointed bail agents in the country (half of whom are women). As described by Kreimer for Current Biography, bail bondsmen operate somewhat like insurance agents, ensuring courts and local authorities that prisoners or suspects will appear at the appropriate time to face the charges against them. (Thus, BEAs and bounty hunters are hired by bail bondsmen.) In the belief that bounty hunters are a dying breed, Chapman runs a training course in Hawaii. He also offers his services as a motivational speaker to schools, prisons, and other institutions.
A reality show documenting Chapman's professional exploits and family life--Dog, The Bounty Hunter--premiered on A&E in August 2004. In addition to Chapman, the show features several of his fellow bounty hunters, including his son Leland; his young nephew, Justin Bihag; and a longtime friend, Tim Chapman (to whom he is not related). Beth Smith, Chapman's fourth wife and business partner, also figures prominently in the program.
Chapman is a muscular man with blue eyes and a mane of long blond hair. He often wears tight sleeveless T-shirts, boots, and armbands. According to his Web site, he and Smith, along with seven of their 12 children, live together in Honolulu, Hawaii. Chapman has said that the natural beauty of the Hawaiian islands helps to keep him sane. On his Web site he declared, "For me, Hawaii is like decompression."
References:
Suggested Reading: A&E Web site; Dakinebailbonds.com; dogthebountyhunter (on-line); Professional Bail Agents of the United States Web site
Credit
Frederick M. Brown
www.hwwilson.com/_home/bios/2003111542.htm
Feb. 2, 1952- Bounty hunter
2005 Biography from Current Biography
In June 2003 the dramatic capture in Mexico of Andrew Luster, a fugitive rapist and heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune, was reported widely in the media. Most accounts mentioned a shadowy American bounty hunter who had tracked down and apprehended Luster in order to bring him to justice. That captor was Duane "Dog" Chapman, a reformed ex-convict who calls himself the "greatest bounty hunter in the world." In his singular career on the fringes of law enforcement, Chapman has claimed, he has captured 6,000 fugitives, mostly so-called bail jumpers--those indicted for felonies (serious crimes including rape, murder, drug offenses, and robbery) who flee either before their cases go to trial or during their trials. Chapman, who is currently the subject of an A&E television reality series, will hunt down anyone with a warrant out for his or her arrest, including those on the FBI's most-wanted list. He has said, as quoted on the A&E Web site, "I don't care if went into hell. I'll find him."
The oldest of four children, Duane Chapman was born on February 2, 1952. He grew up in Denver, Colorado. His father, Wesley, was a welder in the U.S. Navy; his mother, Barbara, was a minister in the First Assemblies of God. In an autobiographical profile posted on his Web site (dogthebountyhunter.com), Chapman described his father as verbally and emotionally abusive. (The two grew closer before the older man's death.) During his youth Chapman lived in Texas and other parts of the U.S. and pursued a life of crime. According to his Web site, as an adolescent he was arrested 18 times for armed robbery. In Texas he joined a motorcycle gang called the Devil's Disciples. In 1976 he and a number of other members of the Devil's Disciples were arrested for the murder of a local pimp and drug dealer. Although Chapman insisted that a fellow gang member had acted alone in killing the man, he was found guilty for his alleged role in the murder, and in 1977 a Texas court sentenced him to five years of hard labor. By his own account, while serving time in a Texas state penitentiary, Chapman found God (he has said that his nickname comes from the word "God" spelled backward) and vowed to reform his life. He was paroled in 1979. He has often pointed to his prison experience as a motivation for his work, in which, as he has often described it, he enables lawbreakers to arrive at a point in their lives at which they will be inspired to "go straight"--that is, give up their old ways and adopt a more principled and moral life style. "It's why I hunt men--fugitives of the law," Chapman wrote for his Web site. "I am what rehabilitation stands for."
Before his arrest Chapman had fathered at least one child, and after his release from prison, he still owed child support to the mother. According to Chapman, the judge presiding over the child-support case agreed to pay $200 toward the debt if Chapman caught a fugitive for him. Chapman earned his first bounty, he has said, by tying the wanted man up with his belt. He thereby launched his career. Soon, his Web site reported, he was capturing as many as four fugitives a week.
Bounty hunters are also known as bail enforcement agents (BEAs) or fugitive recovery agents--terms that Chapman dislikes. A BEA is an individual (or group of individuals--an agency, for example) who, in exchange for payment, apprehends people who have failed to appear as ordered while on bond or bail and surrenders them to the presiding authorities. Bail entails the temporary release of a suspect or prisoner in a criminal case in exchange for money or other collateral--usually a bond or formal guarantee provided on the suspect's behalf by a bail agent--meant to ensure that prisoner's eventual return to hear the case against him or her in court. Every year many people "jump," or flee, while free on bail, traveling to other states or countries or otherwise attempting to hide from the authorities. Such individuals represent the majority of the fugitives Chapman and those in his line of work track and capture.
According to Chapman's Web site, every year bounty hunters and BEAs capture an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people who have jumped bail. Stephen Kreimer, the executive director of Professional Bail Agents of the United States (PBUS), told Current Biography that there are approximately 1,100 BEAs in the United States. Chapman's Web site puts the number at 8,000. That discrepancy has arisen in part because there is no standard system for regulating or licensing BEAs or bounty hunters; regulations on BEAs vary from state to state, with some states maintaining rigorous licensing and training requirements and others exerting little control. (There is broad concern within law-enforcement communities about the activities of bounty hunters--their capturing of fugitives, though ostensibly acts of justice, has been likened to kidnapping--and legislation calling for better regulation of the profession has been introduced in the U.S. Congress.) The legal precedent for bounty hunters in the U.S. was set in the 1872 U.S. Supreme Court case Taylor v. Taintor; that ruling gave bounty hunters broad authority in carrying out their duties. A growing number of states, however, have since legally restricted the activities of bounty hunters; for example, some have required them to undergo background checks and sanctioned training, or have prohibited their use of firearms.
In the profile of his life and work posted on his Web site, Chapman stated that he did not want to be simply an informer who tracks a fugitive and tells the authorities of his whereabouts; rather, he wanted to be the one to physically apprehend the fugitive, "to look the guy in the face when I brought him in and see the entire process through." On his Web site he has posted lists of his past captures and pictures of the most-wanted fugitives still at large. In trying to track down those who have fled the law, Chapman seeks, in his words, "relatives [of the fugitives], friends, anyone who might be willing to help bring the fugitive in. . . . Seventy percent of all my captures happen because some good ole American has turned them in by giving me information." Among the high-profile fugitives Chapman has singlehandedly captured or helped to apprehend are Quinton Wortham, a man convicted of rape in Washington, D.C.; Wayne Williams, a child murderer from Altanta; and William Scatarie, a white supremacist and murderer. (The captures and escapades Chapman described on his Web site have not all been independently verified.) "Dog's a genius at the practical side of humanity, especially when it comes to understanding the criminal mind," the well-known author and motivational speaker Anthony Robbins is quoted as saying of Chapman on the latter's Web site. "He's the best in the world at what he does." (Robbins wrote of Chapman in his book Awaken the Giant Within [1991].)
On his Web site Chapman cautioned that many fugitives are armed and dangerous. "I like to hear that God goes before us, because he is the biggest bulletproof vest of all," he once wrote. (As a former felon, he is not allowed to carry a gun.) Chapman has admitted that he has often showered a just-captured fugitive with choice expletives, a habit that is part of what he euphemistically refers to on his Web site as "holding court in the street." He has told many of them, as quoted on the A&E Web site, "Twelve men can judge you or six men can carry you. You decide." As tough as he appears to be, Chapman is not impervious to fear. "I'm a normal guy," he acknowledged on his Web site. "I'm scared all the time." As an example, he recalled one particular capture in which he and a number of his small children duped a dangerous heroin dealer into surrendering without a fight. Chapman and his children had shined flashlights into the cabin in the Colorado mountains in which the criminal was hiding out, leading the fugitive to believe that he was surrounded by many armed federal agents. The man was furious at having been fooled. "When [the suspect] said that he was going to kill me, well, that shook me up for a pretty long time," Chapman wrote.
As payment for their efforts, bounty hunters are often promised between 10 and 15 percent of the bail set for a given fugitive. Chapman has estimated that he has been paid for fewer than half of the more than 6,000 fugitives he has captured, because bondsmen do not always have the required cash on hand. (Chapman has said that he has been offered watches, old trucks, and, once, even a puppy in lieu of money.) Indeed, despite certain stereotypes to the contrary, making a living as a bounty hunter is not easy; Stephen Kreimer told Current Biography that only a small percentage of bounty hunters can support themselves by practicing the trade.
Chapman made headlines for his involvement in the case of Andrew Luster, a great-grandson of Max Factor, who had built a cosmetics empire in the 1920s. On January 3, 2003, while on trial in California for drugging and raping three women, Luster fled during a court recess. (He was convicted in absentia of the crimes.) In June of that year, Chapman, his brother, and one of his sons tracked Luster to Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico's Pacific coast, and took him into custody. Chapman has offered no detailed accounts of how they restrained Luster; a bystander reported a scuffle to the police, who then arrested Chapman and the others working with him. (Bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico.) In late June Luster was deported by Mexican authorities to the U.S. and was taken into custody by FBI agents. Shortly afterward, Chapman and his helpers returned from Mexico as well. While some observers viewed Chapman as a hero and an enforcer of justice, the episode highlighted the murky legal territory in which bounty hunters operate. Although he estimated that he was owed about $350,000 for the capture, Chapman was denied payment of a percentage of Luster's bail. "[Chapman] went to Mexico and failed to comply with the law," California Superior Court judge Edward Brodie said, as quoted on CBSNews.com (August 6, 2003). "I cannot condone vigilante justice." Chapman accepted the ruling but has rejected the notion that he and other bounty hunters are vigilantes who obstruct the work of official law-enforcement agencies.
Chapman owns several bail-bonding businesses in Hawaii, where he settled in the late 1980s, and Colorado. According to Stephen Kreimer and PBUS, there are 14,000 licensed or appointed bail agents in the country (half of whom are women). As described by Kreimer for Current Biography, bail bondsmen operate somewhat like insurance agents, ensuring courts and local authorities that prisoners or suspects will appear at the appropriate time to face the charges against them. (Thus, BEAs and bounty hunters are hired by bail bondsmen.) In the belief that bounty hunters are a dying breed, Chapman runs a training course in Hawaii. He also offers his services as a motivational speaker to schools, prisons, and other institutions.
A reality show documenting Chapman's professional exploits and family life--Dog, The Bounty Hunter--premiered on A&E in August 2004. In addition to Chapman, the show features several of his fellow bounty hunters, including his son Leland; his young nephew, Justin Bihag; and a longtime friend, Tim Chapman (to whom he is not related). Beth Smith, Chapman's fourth wife and business partner, also figures prominently in the program.
Chapman is a muscular man with blue eyes and a mane of long blond hair. He often wears tight sleeveless T-shirts, boots, and armbands. According to his Web site, he and Smith, along with seven of their 12 children, live together in Honolulu, Hawaii. Chapman has said that the natural beauty of the Hawaiian islands helps to keep him sane. On his Web site he declared, "For me, Hawaii is like decompression."
References:
Suggested Reading: A&E Web site; Dakinebailbonds.com; dogthebountyhunter (on-line); Professional Bail Agents of the United States Web site
Credit
Frederick M. Brown
www.hwwilson.com/_home/bios/2003111542.htm
