Kenneth
"Buckwild" Francis, the former co-host of the cancelled Playboy TV series
Buckwild, has been sentenced to prison for his role in an ectasy drug smuggling
ring. US
District Judge Manuel Real sentenced the 38-year-old personality to more than
11 years in federal prison on Monday (April 16). Francis,
who pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to import and distribute ecstasy, is
best known for hosting the Playboy TV series Buckwild with rapper Snoop
Dogg. The
sentencing marks the end of a case that involved models who, according to prosecutors,
were recruited to travel to Belgium and the Netherlands to pick up packages containing
ecstasy tablets. Although
the couriers told authorities they were smuggling diamonds, assistant US attorney
Cheryl Murphy stated that the packages actually contained tens of thousands of
pills that were brought into Los Angeles and New York in 2000 and 2001.The
alleged ringleader of the crime, Ronald Joseph Samuel, is currently awaiting sentencing
after pleading guilty in the case, prosecutors said. In
his defense, Francis said he initially thought the models were traveling to Europe
for photo shoots. He
later found out that they were smuggling drugs and told Real that he "got
involved in this whole drug-smuggling conspiracy by wanting to start my own business,
which was a modeling business." In
addition to Francis, seven other men in the case were sentenced to prison, where
they will serve stints ranging from three to nine years.
Buckwild
was a Hip-Hop themed show, which premiered in 2004 and featured uncensored music
videos with related sexual segments, as well as interviews with popular Hip-Hop
artists, as they went to strip clubs, shopped for lingerie for their significant
others or participated in their favorite extreme sports. Artists
featured on the show included OutKast, Busta Rhymes, Lil’ Jon and the Eastside
Boys, the Ying Yang Twins, Loon and Treach from Naughty by Nature.
