Con looks to strike while hot
LIGHTS! CAMERA! PRISON?
Jeremy Meeks is ready to cash in on his 15 minutes of fame — after serving a longer stretch of time.
Confidenti@l has learned that associates of the blue-eyed, olive-skinned convict, who became an Internet sensation last week, have been shopping for a top-tier publicist to launch Meeks’ modeling or acting career once he’s released from jail, which could happen today. Meeks (r.) has a date with San Joaquin County Judge Frank
lin Stephenson at 11:30 a.m. EST. “I don’t know what they’re looking for,” said one prominent celebrity rep in New York who was contacted by people claiming to represent the 30-year-old Stockton, Calif., hoodlum. “It’s so bizarre. I didn’t even take the call.”
“We want nothing to do with this story,” said a Los Angeles-based rep whom our insiders count as one of “more than a dozen” publicists or agents who’ve been contacted to help launch a Meeks showbiz career.
On June 19, mug shots of Meeks that looked like Hollywood headshots went viral after the Stockton P.D. posted his photo on their Facebook page.
That posting was designed to let the local community know the career criminal had been apprehended on weapons charges and suspected ties to a violent street gang. In addition to the tear tattooed on his face, Meeks has gang insignias inked on his neck and forearm.
After the posting attracted 40,000 “likes” and was picked up by countless blogs, the Facebook page Jeremy Meeks DreamyMug Shot was created. The page has drawn more than 200,000 likes and helped raise nearly $5,000 for a “Free Jeremy Meeks” fund meant to help the 6-foot-1 thug make his $1.1 million bail.
“Please help him to get a fair trial or else he’ll be railroaded,” Meeks’ mom,
Katherine Angier, wrote on a Web page that’s part of a drive to keep her son from becoming the best-looking guy in San Quentin. His family members have insisted this week that Meeks’ gang days are behind him, and it’s his old tattoos that cause cops to harass him.
Officer Joseph Silva of the Stockton Police Department told The Associated Press that Meeks is “one of the most violent criminals in the Stockton area.” In 2002, he was sentenced to two years in the clink after pummeling a 16-year-old boy.
A San Joaquin court clerk told Confidenti@l there have been far more phone calls than usual about the Meeks case.
“We’ve even had people call to see if Oprah bailed him out,” laughed the clerk, who assured us that despite rumors to the contrary, Meeks remains a VIP guest of the San Joaquin County Jail.