Is Dog The Bounty Hunter Really Not Allowed To Catch Fugitives?
It's been over a month since Gabby Petito — a 22-year-old, who planned on pursuing a career as an influencer and documenting her cross-country travels while living in a van — went missing near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. After the story of her disappearance, which her fiance 23-year-old Brian Laundrie failed to report for nearly two weeks after he returned to their home state of Florida on September 1 alone, Laundrie was almost immediately pinned as a person of interest before disappearing himself.
Unlike Petito, whose body was found on September 19 and whose death was later ruled a homicide, Laundrie's vanishing act is thought to be deliberate and an attempt to evade the FBI, who declared him a person of interest in the Petito case. He also refused to speak with federal agents before his departure.
Shortly after law enforcement's efforts to find Laundrie, reality TV star and Florida resident Dog the Bounty Hunter also made headlines for instigating his own much-publicized mission to track him down. But according to a recent report by Daily Mail, it appears there's one major flaw in the famed media personality's plan: namely, that Dog has no actual power to officially apprehend and arrest Laundrie by definition of law. So what's going on here? And could it mean Dog the Bounty Hunter's motivation for finding Laundrie is less than altruistic in nature?
Dog the Bounty Hunter's search might have suspicious motivations
In an exclusive, the Daily Mail reported on October 8 that Dog the Bounty Hunter (real name: Duane Chapman) is not currently licensed to work as a bounty hunter under Florida law. This would presumably prevent him from legally being able to place Brian Laundrie under arrest if his efforts to find the FBI's primary person of interest in the Gabby Petito homicide case.
According to Mike Harrison, a Florida resident who works as the vice president of state's Bail Bondsmen Association, any physical seizure or detention made by Dog could result in criminal charges against the TV-dubbed bounty hunter for "kidnapping or false imprisonment." Speaking to what Dog's intentions in enacting his own search for Laundrie could be, Harrison was candid with the Daily Mail. "Everybody in the business knows Dog is doing this for publicity, maybe to land another TV show," Harrison told the tabloid.
Harrison is far from the only one to suspect Dog's motives. Only two days before the Daily Mail published their exclusive, Dog's daughter, Cecily Chapman, spoke out publicly against her estranged father, who she accused of milking the tragedy and crime for the limelight, per the New York Post. She also went as far as to suggest Dog staged elements of his search, including a photo of a Monster energy drink can which he alleged was left by Laundrie at the remains of a campsite in Florida's Fort De Soto Park.