Mexico issues bulletin for bounty hunters
By Mary Vorsino
Associated Press
The Hawai'i-based bounty hunter who captured Max Factor heir Andrew Luster said yesterday he doesn't regret going after the convicted rapist, even though the operation has cost him thousands of dollars and gotten him into trouble with the Mexican government.
Associated Press library photo
Duane "Dog" Chapman said the case's most recent development — Mexican authorities issued an all-points bulletin after a judge declared Chapman, his son, Leland, and brother, Timothy, in violation of their bail — may stop him from returning to Mexico. But it hasn't moved him to think twice about capturing Luster, who is serving a 124-year prison sentence.
Duane "Dog" Chapman said a Mexican judge told him that he couldn't be extradited for the charge.
The bulletin was issued less than a week after a California judge told Chapman that he was not entitled to any part of the $1 million bail Luster forfeited when he vanished during his trial in January.
The bounty hunter said he won't return to Mexico because of it.
The bulletin "saddens me, because I'd like to go back (to Mexico) tomorrow" to catch other convicts, said Chapman, who spoke by phone from Los Angeles.
Authorities have issued requests for officials to extradite the Chapmans to Mexico. Officials said Monday that the three were in violation of their bail, which required them to sign in at court each week.
The Chapmans are charged with criminal association and deprivation of liberty after their June capture of Luster in Puerto Vallarta, a Pacific coast resort city.
The charges carry a punishment of up to eight years in prison.
Duane "Dog" Chapman's wife, Beth Smith, argues the bounty hunters are not in violation of their bail because a court date has not been set.
Chapman added that the Mexican judge presiding over his case told him that he couldn't be extradited for the charge "because this is a misdemeanor."
Judge Jose de Jesus Pineda has issued conflicting messages throughout the case, ordering the bounty hunters to at first stay in Mexico, then allowing them to leave as long as they showed up on Mondays according to their bail, and finally, saying he didn't need to see the three bounty hunters at all in court.
The judge was on vacation and could not be reached for comment yesterday on his latest decision.
Chapman said the judge told him the charges were "a minor infraction of the law."
"He asked me what happened. I told him we had a police officer from Mexico," Chapman said. Chapman said the judge responded with, "Perro, do you think your government would give you back for a misdemeanor?"
Chapman said he was following advice from the Federal Bureau of Investigation when he hired a Mexican police officer to accompany him during the Luster capture.
"The FBI told me, 'Do not do it without local authorities with you,' " Chapman said.
He disputes allegations by prosecutors, who argue the bounty hunters should have gone to police instead of snagging Luster themselves.
Chapman, who has lived in Hawai'i since 1991, operates Da Kine Bail Bonds in Honolulu with his wife. They also own a bail bond business in Colorado.
Smith said Chapman, who has received thousands of e-mails from Californians praising his capture of Luster, is being punished for doing a noble deed.
"How much verbal bashing can a person take?" she asked. "He's devastated by the whole thing. I constantly reassure him that he did the right thing."
Smith added that her husband had been certain he would receive at least a small portion of Luster's bail money.
"We thought that the justices would do justice," she said.
The couple said they expect to return to Honolulu tonight.
