‘Dog’ collars
fugitive in MexicoThe bounty hunter is
now facing difficulties
with Mexican police
Just before dawn yesterday, Hawaii bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman grabbed fugitive Andrew Luster as he walked out of a swank Mexican resort nightclub, according to his longtime companion and business partner, Beth Smith.
On the dimly lit streets of Puerto Vallarta, Chapman, who does not carry a gun, struggled with Luster, a convicted serial rapist and the heir to the Max Factor cosmetic fortune.
Chapman's son Leland, 26, and his brother, Timothy, 38, joined the struggle, said Smith.
Once Chapman had Luster face down in the street and handcuffed, a massive international manhunt was over, and Chapman stood to gain a piece of the $1 million bail the millionaire had forfeited.
Chapman, 50, sat on top of Luster and called his wife to report back to Honolulu.
"Dog called me on his cell and said: 'I've got him, honey, I'm sitting right on top of him. He's cuffed. Call the federales, and I'll try to get him into the car.'"
Smith said she spent the next four hours trying to get U.S. law enforcement in California to call her back.
The swashbuckling Chapman, with his long bleached-blond curls, appears to have done what legions of law enforcement officers and other competing bounty hunters had not: track down Luster, who skipped town Jan. 4 during his Ventura County, Calif., serial-rape trial.
Luster was charged with 86 counts accusing him of drugging women with the date-rape drug gamma hydroxybutyrate and then videotaping them as he raped them in the bedroom of his oceanfront home. His defense was that the sex was consensual, the women were feigning unconsciousness and that he was "an aspiring pornography director."
The jury did not buy it and convicted him in absentia. The judge sentenced him to 124 years, and the "Dog" was on the trail in a personal quest to hunt down Luster, a man he considered a predator, said Smith.
But as Smith tried to alert federal authorities to Luster's capture early yesterday morning, Chapman and the others ran into trouble with the Mexican police.
Smith said that neighbors called police about the street fighting. Police arrived and arrested all of them, said Smith, who spent most of yesterday trying to talk to her husband and find him a lawyer.
Chapman has not been charged. Under Mexican law, bounty hunting is considered a form of kidnapping and therefore illegal.
"I'm really stoked that he caught him," said Hawaii Deputy Sheriff Thomas Cayetano, who has worked with Chapman and known him since 1990. "That's pretty awesome that he caught that guy, and he certainly deserves the bounty. But it's messed up that he's locked up."
Unlike law enforcement officers, bounty hunters do not need arrest warrants or search warrants, said Cayetano. The reason they can hunt a fugitive is because they hold the bail or they are hired by the company that holds it.
Smith said she is angry at federal law enforcement who are taking credit for the arrest but not helping Chapman get out of a Mexican jail. They are also saying he will not get a piece of the bounty, she said.
"It's like his whole career, his whole reputation is riding on one bounty, one jump," said Smith. "And now the feds are making him out to be a glory-hound."
Smith added, "Dog is a bounty hunter with 25 years of experience, 6,000 captures and a heart the size of the ocean. He would never in a million years dream of cutting the police department out. He's alerted them to every turn and every lead in this case. It's absolutely appalling they would treat him this way."
Law enforcement officials in California could not be reached for comment.
"The Dog," as he calls himself, is a flamboyant showman with his own multimedia Web site, www.dogthebountyhunter.com. He often dresses in black or leather and almost always swings a pair of handcuffs from his jeans. One of the mottos, or "dogisms," on his Web site reads: "Six men can carry you or 12 can judge you. You decide."
Chapman, who owns Da Kine Bail Bonds with locations in Hawaii and Denver, Colo., calls himself "the greatest bounty hunter in the world."
According to the "Dog" lore on his Web site and news accounts, Chapman began his career 25 years ago when he was released from prison and faced huge back child-support payments. Chapman tells reporters that when he told the judge he had no means to pay, the judge suggested he make a living as a bounty hunter.
A born-again Christian, Chapman has 12 children. A felon who is legally unable to carry a gun, Chapman has told reporters that he has 18 burglary arrests and once served time in a Texas prison for murder.
"Duane considers himself the predator's predator," said Smith.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.