The epitome of the expression ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’ the bedraggled looking Duane Chapman, known as Dog the Bounty Hunter, has turned his life around from felon to bondsman and captured the attention of the nation in both his reality show ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’ and in his own personal brushes with the law.

Duane Chapman was born on February 2^nd 1953 in Denver Colorado, the eldest of four children to Wesley and Barbara Chapman. His father was a welder with the Navy and his mother was a minister with the First Assembly of God.

Growing up poor in a tough neighbourhood, Duane dropped out of school at fourteen years of age and joined a motorcycle gang during which time he was arrested 18 times for armed robbery.

By 1977 Chapman had really reached an all time low in his criminal career when he was arrested for the murder of Jeremy Oliver and sentenced to five years in a Texas prison. After serving just 18 months he was released on probation as his involvement in the crime was merely as an accessory for not reporting the shooting to the police.

Prior to going to prison Chapman married and had a child for which he owed support during his time in prison. During a child support hearing the judge asked Chapman to catch a fugitive for a $200.00 bond and that was where his career as a bounty hunter was born.

Chapman operates his bounty hunter business as a family concern with his wife Beth and their children, Leland, Duane Lee and daughter Lyssa. He has a business partner Tim Chapman and together they became the subject of their own reality television show, Dog the Bounty Hunter.

Although the show attracts a huge audience, real bounty hunters, known as bail agents, have shown their disapproval of Chapman’s methods and the image he portrays which has long been avoided by other bounty hunters: the cowboy image, the renegade, bring 'em home dead or alive.

After four unsuccessful marriages and eight children, Duane married his fifth wife Beth Smith on May 20th, 2006 at the Hilton Waikoloa Village in Hawaii. Together they have two children together Bonnie Jo Chapman and Garry Chapman. Smith has two children from previous relationships, Dominic and Cecily Barmore.

Chapman really came to the attention of the public when he hunted and captured the Max Factor cosmetics heir Andrew Luster, who at the time was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Luster had fled the United States in the middle of his trial for drugging and raping a number of women, and was convicted in his absence on 86 counts including multiple rape charges connected to assaults in 1996, 1997 and 2000.

But this incident would come back to haunt both Duane, his son and his partner when they were arrested by United States Marshals and jailed in Honolulu on behalf of the Mexican government. All three were charged with deprivation of liberty involving the 2003 apprehension of Andrew Luster.

Following Chapman’s arrest the case aroused much public and political awareness to the extent that on October 11^th 2006, a letter was written to Condolezza Rice and sent on Chapman's behalf by 29 Republican Congressmen to U.S. Secretary of State. The letter stated the authors' opposition to Chapman's extradition and requested that Rice deny Mexico's request for same.

On August 1st 2007 the arrest warrant issued for Chapman and his associates was thought to be invalidated, as a Mexican court has found that the statute of limitations regarding the arrest had expired. Chapman, along with his lawyer, William C. Bollard, has appeared on numerous media shows such as Larry King Live and The Glenn Beck Program on CNN. On March 7, 2007 legislators in the International Affairs Committee of the Hawaii State House passed a resolution that asks the Mexican government to drop the extradition proceedings against Duane, Leland and Tim Chapman.

Once again Chapman came to prominence once again for being the ‘bad boy’ not the hunter. In March 2007, during this taped conversation with his son Tucker, Chapman used strong language, including the word "nigger", when referring to Monique Shinnery, his son's African-American girlfriend. The audiotape, which Tucker sold to the National Enquirer, has prompted a coalition of civil rights leaders to call for Chapman's popular Dog the Bounty Hunter show on A&E to be canceled.

Although Chapman made a public apology for the ’regrettable use of very inappropriate language’ A&E announced it is removing the show from their schedule "for the foreseeable future".

Duane currently lives in Honolulu, Hawaii with his wife, Beth.

ABB