Associate of Girls Gone Wild founder takes plea deal in Reno bribery case

RENO -- A Hollywood associate of Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis was fined $5,000 Monday but spared prison time for his role as the "bag man" in the bribery of jail guards to help Francis when he was held in Reno on tax evasion charges in 2007.

Aaron Weinstein, 45, originally faced a felony bribery charge but agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor of providing contraband in prison.

U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks said Weinstein avoided up to six months in prison because he cooperated with authorities in prosecuting Francis and two former guards at the Washoe County jail who acknowledged accepting thousands of dollars in cash and gifts.

"One could easily say there should be a short prison sentence here," Hicks said Monday in federal court in Reno. "His cooperation and straight forward demeanor spared him that."

One former deputy, Frank Hawkins, was sentenced in December to three years in prison and fined $4,000 for accepting cash and tickets to Oakland Raiders games from Weinstein. Another, Mary Boxx, also has pleaded guilty to a bribery charge and is to be sentenced March 15. A third was acquitted.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Rachow said Weinstein's testimony helped lead to felony convictions of the two deputies as well as Francis, whose soft porn empire includes videos of naked young women.

A federal grand jury in Reno indicted Francis on tax evasion charges in 2007. A federal judge in Los Angeles sentenced him in November to 301 days already served and a year of probation for filing false income tax returns and bribing the jail workers in Nevada.