Stars Who Are Currently In Jail
The following article includes discussions of sexual assault, child abuse, and other violent and disturbing crimes.
In the modern era of the entertainment industry, celebrity legal battles can feel overwhelmingly common. We've witnessed a number of baffling cases and incidents in the past few years alone, including Alec Baldwin's narrow and potentially temporary dodging of an involuntary manslaughter charge (following a fatal shooting on the set of his upcoming film "Rust"), Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's scorched-earth defamation trial, and the public downfalls of numerous stars in the wake of truly historic revelations about the prevalence of sexual assault and misconduct in Hollywood. As of this writing, many are closely watching the case of fallen Marvel Cinematic Universe star Jonathan Majors, currently awaiting a trial on charges of domestic abuse.
The sad reality is that, beneath the perfect patina of Hollywood life, entertainers are just as liable to make mistakes as anyone else — and are just as capable of performing unspeakable actions, too. Right now, there are over a dozen stars currently serving prison sentences ranging from a few years to multiple lifetimes for a wide variety of crimes. In discussing the tragic and often horrific events that led to these individuals spending significant portions of their lives in custody, we will have to discuss topics not suitable for all readers. Please proceed at your own discretion.
Wire fraud sent Jen Shah to the big house
If you recognize the name Jen Shah but haven't ever seen an episode of her reality television program, "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City," there's actually a decent explanation for that. In recent months, the wife of former football coach Sharrieff Shah has been brought up in conversations surrounding the allegations against Marvel Studios star Jonathan Majors. During his trial, he will be represented by defense attorney Priya Chaudhry, who at one point represented Shah when the reality star found herself staring down 30 years in a federal prison for financial crimes.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Shah was involved in a nine-year scheme that used telemarketing tactics to target hundreds of unsuspecting people (including the elderly) and sell them on what they called "business services" by lying about the benefits. On July 11, 2022, Shah pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing, agreeing to forfeit $6.5 million in ill-gotten gains and pay up to $9.5 million in restitution. As part of her sentence, she will serve 78 months (the equivalent of six-and-a-half years) in a Texas federal prison (coincidentally, the same facility where fellow famous wire-fraudster Elizabeth Holmes is being held).
To make matters worse for Shah, Chaudhry withdrew as her counsel earlier this year for breach of contract. The defense attorney alleges that Shah failed to make payments to her firm, leaving over $124,000 worth of legal fees unpaid.
Todd and Julie Chrisley will be released early for financial crimes
Since 2014, millions of American viewers have marveled at the financial success of Todd Chrisley through the USA reality television series "Chrisley Knows Best." Throughout this time, they likely assumed such wealth was amassed purely through his business ventures as a powerful real estate tycoon — but the reality is much more complicated.
Per the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Georgia, Todd and his wife Julie spent a decade defrauding "banks out of tens of millions of dollars while evading payment of their federal income taxes." The couple secured over $36 million in personal loans by forging the requisite financial information needed by the bank, then subsequently declared bankruptcy once this money ran out (their outstanding debt was north of $20 million). Additionally, they worked with accountant Peter Tarantino to hide $500,000 owed by Todd in accounts under Julie's name, eventually taking further steps to keep their income a secret from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Todd and Julie initially received federal prison sentences of 12 and seven years respectively. However, due to the non-violent nature of their offenses and their conduct while in custody, their sentences were lowered by about two years each under the First Step act, and are subject to further reductions pending evolving sentencing guidelines.
WWE star Tammy Sunny Sytch faces 26 years in prison
In the late 1990s, Tammy Sytch — also known by her ring name "Sunny" — became arguably one of the most influential wrestlers ever involved with the World Wrestling Federation. In 2011, long after the company had rebranded as the WWE, she was even inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as the original "Diva" (a catch-all term used by the organization to recognize female-identifying performers). But in the years following a handful of WWE appearances in the late 2000s, reckless and criminal behavior landed her in trouble with the law.
In 2015, Sytch was arrested for three counts of drunk driving, and was sentenced to 90 days in prison after pleading guilty to all three counts. Tragically, this began a pattern of being arrested for driving under the influence and being released that continued for several years, until her actions finally reached an unthinkable apex. On March 25, 2022, Sytch crashed into a stopped vehicle while driving at four times the legal blood alcohol content limit — her blood also later revealed traces of marijuana in her system.
Though Sytch survived the deadly collision mostly intact (albeit with no apparent memory of having even driven the car, per her statement at the hospital), she killed a 75-year-old man in the other vehicle. In August 2023, she pleaded no contest to a litany of charges including manslaughter, and though her defense attorney is seeking a sentence of 10.5 years, prosecutors are reportedly pushing for the maximum sentence of up to 26 years.
A new judge more than doubled Amy Locane's original sentence
After breaking out in the 1990 John Waters film "Cry-Baby," Amy Locane landed a series regular gig on the first season of the soap opera "Melrose Place." She continued to play supporting roles here and there for the next decade or so, until she announced her retirement in 2006 following her engagement to Hopewell, New Jersey businessman Mark Bovenzier. She continued to take part in local community theater productions.
After closing a show with a night of celebrating, drinking, and driving between multiple locations, she crashed into a car stopped at a red light. When the driver of the car exited his vehicle and approached her to exchange information, she attempted to flee — and a chase ensued. Ultimately, Locane — driving 18 miles above the speed limit with a blood alcohol level three times the legal driving limit — collided with another vehicle, this time killing a 60-year-old mother of two and seriously injuring her husband. Locane was convicted in 2012 of second-degree vehicular homicide and assault by automobile and was sentenced to just three years in prison — two years below the minimum sentence.
Though the court justified its ruling by citing Locane's record, her child being seriously ill and in need of care, and that the driver of the other vehicle (the deceased's husband) had violated right-of-way rules, the leniency of the sentence caused an uproar. Despite being released from custody in 2015, Locane was re-sentenced four more times until she was finally ordered to serve an additional eight years in 2019. She will be eligible for parole in 2024.
After years of preaching family values, Josh Duggar went away for sickening acts
In early 2015, Josh Duggar was arguably at the peak of his career. "19 Kids and Counting," the hit TLC reality series that turned him and his extraordinarily large family into household names, was the network's most popular program with an average of over 2.3 million viewers per episode. The 27-year-old Duggar was also the executive director of a powerful Washington, D.C. conservative political action committee (PAC) called the Family Research Council, making good on the political aspirations of his father Jim Bob Duggar while lobbying against gay marriage and abortion and rubbing shoulders with the likes of future House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Josh Duggar was arguably living the evangelical-conservative American dream. Then on May 21, 2015, InTouch Weekly published a report outlining a disturbing pattern of sexual abuse perpetrated while he and his victims were minors. Of the five victims, two were his siblings. As a result, TLC canceled the series, and Duggar resigned from his position at FRC with a public apology. In 2021, years after this apparently contrite retreat from public life, U.S. Homeland Security discovered child sexual abuse material on Duggar's work computer. Investigators described the contents of his hard drive as among the worst they've ever seen. Duggar was found guilty of receiving and possessing child pornography on December 9, 2021, and was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison. He will not be eligible for release until August 2032.
Kris Wu will be deported from China after his jail sentence ends
K-Pop fans are likely most familiar with Kris Wu from his time with the immensely popular South Korean boy band Exo. However, many Americans might have first encountered the Chinese-Canadian artist after he landed supporting roles in the 2017 Vin Diesel blockbuster "XXX: Return of Xander Cage" and Luc Besson's "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets."
In the years that followed his Hollywood breakthrough, it was alleged that Wu had been using his status as a celebrity in China to manipulate and assault multiple women, one as young as 17. He was arrested by Beijing police in 2021 on suspicion of rape. On November 25, 2022, Wu was convicted of raping three women and assembling a crowd to engage in sexual promiscuity following a private, closed-door trial in the Chaoyang District People's Court. He was sentenced to a total of 13 years for both charges, though an appeal attempt is underway. He has also been ordered to pay 600 million yen ($80 million USD) for tax evasion fines.
Controversy surrounded the trial, with some fans of Wu rushing to his defense by claiming he had been falsely accused by one of the victims (whom they allege was extorting Wu for money). These allegations have not been proven, and accounts defending Wu were mostly shut down. Canadian diplomats have attempted to gain access to Wu's appeals trial, but were ultimately denied entirely. At the end of Wu's sentence, he will be deported from China.
Jared Fogle will spend his life under surveillance
Throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, Jared Fogle quickly became well-known for two things: being one of the most famous brand ambassadors in America and one of the most famous sex criminals in America. After spending over a decade helping Subway establish itself as a healthy fast-food brand, allegations surfaced that Fogle had used his position to harass multiple women, possessed child sexual abuse material, abused multiple minors, and even crossed state lines to commit sexual crimes against a minor.
Though certain law enforcement individuals had been aware of similar allegations against Fogle since 2007, it wasn't until the arrest of his associate Russell Taylor (the executive director of the Jared Foundation, Fogle's charity) that authorities were able to confirm Fogle's involvement. His home was raided by the FBI on July 7, 2015, after which Fogle was arrested for possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material. A month later, Fogle pleaded guilty to both this charge and one count of traveling to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.
As part of his plea agreement, Fogle was sentenced to 188 months (well over 15 years) in prison, with the possibility of parole after 13 years. He was further fined $175,000 by the court, forced to forfeit $50,000 in assets, and ordered to pay restitution to each of his 14 victims, amounting to $1.4 million in total. When Fogle is released, he will be placed on the sex offender registry and will have his devices monitored for the rest of his life.
The Walking Dead extra Shannon Guess tried to assassinate a U.S. president
Shannon Richardson — also known by her stage name, Shannon Guess — had only a handful of minor roles under her belt by the time of her 2013 arrest, the biggest of which was a character named Stephanie on an early season of "The Vampire Diaries." She could also be glimpsed in certain shots of the "Teen Wolf" and "The Walking Dead" pilots. Still, it was no less of a shock when the 46-year-old actor and mother of six was charged with sending ricin-laced letters to New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and President Barack Obama.
Though headlines only referred to her initially with phrases like "Woman from Texas," it didn't take long for outlets to discover the eye-catching (yet tenuous) Hollywood connection to the arrest. Not even the executive producers behind the shows she was apparently involved with seemed to know who she was. "The Walking Dead" writer-executive producer Glen Mazzara tweeted, "Some actress from TWD sent ricin letters to the Prez? Never heard of her. Anyone know what role she played?" Former "Vampire Diaries" showrunner Julie Plec dismissed the headlines as clickbait and balked at implications that Richardson had been anything more than "third background [actor] from the right" on the show.
In 2014, Richardson was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to possessing and producing a biological toxin. She will be eligible for parole in 2028. Her case was dramatized by the Investigation Discovery series "Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry?."
Hunting Carole Baskin put Joe Exotic in a cage
Chances are, you're not only familiar with the bizarre case of eccentric Oklahoma animal wrangler Joe Exotic, but were one of the tens of millions of people that watched it unfold through several hours of the Netflix series "Tiger King." Released in March 2020, the series became an instant hit, with over 30 million people viewing it within the first 10 days it appeared on the platform — all of whom were now well acquainted with "that b**** Carole Baskin."
As the result of an escalating, larger-than-life feud with the controversial CEO of Big Cat Rescue, the Western District of Oklahoma convicted Exotic (aka Joseph Maldonado-Passage) of attempting to hire two hitmen to kill Baskin. Per the United States Attorney's Office, he was also found in violation of the Lacey Act (eight counts for "falsifying wildlife records"), as well as the Endangered Species Act (nine counts, relating to the killing of tigers at his enclosure).
In the aftermath of the docuseries airing on Netflix, Exotic began receiving support from a wide range of newfound fans, including Cardi B and Donald Trump Jr.. Though he was ultimately unsuccessful in securing a presidential pardon, Exotic did win a minor legal victory in 2021 when a panel ruled that he had been improperly sentenced. In 2022, a federal judge re-sentenced him to 21 years in prison — reducing his original sentence by just one year. This hasn't stopped Exotic from making his fourth presidential bid, his second behind bars.
The Church of Scientology allegedly tried to silence victims of Danny Masterson
The allegations against "That '70s Show" star Danny Masterson had been surfacing for several years before his conviction in 2023. In 2017, five women came forward with sexual assault allegations against the actor, resulting in an immediate investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department, his firing from the Netflix series "The Ranch," and the end of his time as a client of United Talent Agency.
On June 17, 2020, Masterson was charged with three counts of rape by force or fear. He pleaded not guilty a year later, and a trial commenced in October 2022. After a month of court proceedings in which the defense chose not to call any witnesses, the jury returned a mistrial verdict. A retrial was held in May 2023, which ultimately found Masterson guilty of two counts of felony rape. He was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, and his first opportunity for parole won't come until 2053, when Masterson will be 77.
In 2019, four of his accusers filed a civil suit against both Masterson and the Church of Scientology, the powerful Hollywood-based religion that has long been the subject of controversy and criticism. The accusers, previously members of the church themselves before allegedly being excommunicated for reporting Masterson to authorities, claimed that the church tried to prevent them from going to the police with their accusations and that current members were encouraged to harass them in further retaliation. The results of the civil suit are still pending.
Joe Son was jailed a decade after starring in Austin Powers
Of the handful of characters professional kickboxer Joe Son played during his relatively short career in Hollywood, none made as much of an impact as Random Task (a riff on the iconic James Bond "Goldfinger" villain Oddjob) from the 1997 film "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery." This was also the final role he played, as his life would quickly spiral into a cycle of violence and criminality that ultimately ended in a decades-long prison sentence.
Son's first stint in prison came after he pleaded guilty to felony vandalism for kicking in his roommate's door. He received an initial sentence of 60 days of jail time, after which he was sentenced to 90 more days of jail time for violating the terms of cooperative surveillance established in his plea deal. While in custody for this probation violation, Son's DNA was connected to a heinous sexual assault that took place in 1990. He was subsequently charged with numerous counts of a range of sex crimes — including five counts of felony rape — but before the trial began, these charges were dismissed due to statute of limitations rules.
The only charges prosecutors were able to try Son on were conspiracy to commit murder and torture, as they were crimes that did not expire under California penal code. He was found guilty in 2011, and was sentenced to seven years to life in prison. A month into serving his prison sentence, Son murdered his cellmate, and in 2017, he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to an additional 27 years in prison.
Harvey Weinstein is one of the most notorious criminals in Hollywood history
It could be argued that Harvey Weinstein's very public arrest and subsequent conviction is one of the most impactful legal events in the history of the entertainment industry. Following an investigative report from the New York Times that alleged three decades of sexual harassment, assault, and rape perpetrated by the powerful film producer, over a hundred women came out as victims of his innumerable crimes. Even more women came forward with similar stories working in Hollywood, kickstarting a rapid industry-wide reckoning with sexual assault.
As the conversation on workplace sexual harassment and misconduct expanded, Weinstein was investigated by officials from Los Angeles, New York City, and London, England. In 2018, he surrendered to the NYPD on several sex crimes charges filed by two accusers. Two years later, he was found guilty of third degree rape and first degree criminal sexual activity — and at the age of 67, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison. In the subsequent Los Angeles trial, Weinstein was once again found guilty of numerous sex crimes including sexual assault and rape, and was sentenced to an additional 16 years in prison.
In 2022, it was announced that London authorities would charge Weinstein with indecent assault, of which the case is still pending. Along with these criminal cases, Weinstein has also been civilly sued by several individuals, including former victims and actors who allege their careers were derailed by refusing his advances.
Michael Jace won't be eligible for parole until the 2050s
On May 19, 2014, Michael Jace shot and killed his wife in front of their two young children, following a domestic dispute that prosecutors alleged stemmed from her desire to file for divorce and his paranoia that she was cheating on him. The then-53-year-old actor apparently next called his wife's father to ask him to retrieve the children before calling 9-1-1 to confess his crime. Police took him into custody that evening.
Jace had previously been featured in a number of well-known films and television shows, including "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "State of Play," "Forrest Gump," "ER," and "Boogie Nights." In 2002, he was cast as Officer Julien Lowe on the popular FX police procedural series "The Shield," a role which he played for over six years before the show ended in 2008. Though it was some time later that Jace would be brought before a court for his violent acts, those that knew him closest alleged during his murder trial that the pattern had always been there.
In sworn statements, numerous individuals claimed he was abusive to both women he was married to (in at least one other instance in front of their children). In 2016, he was found guilty of second degree murder and was sentenced to the maximum of 40 years with the possibility of life imprisonment. He will be eligible for parole in 2056.
Riverdale's Ryan Grantham pleaded guilty to second degree murder
In "Riverdale" Season 4, Episode 1, "Chapter 58: In Memoriam," Canadian actor Ryan Grantham guest-starred as Jeffrey Augustine in his sole series appearance. Airing in 2019, this would be Grantham's final role before he enacted a broad yet deadly scheme that ended in the killing of his own mother.
Grantham had reportedly experienced a rapid mental decline in the months leading up to the March 2020 crime that manifested itself in drug abuse, the consumption of disturbing material, and suicidal ideation. For a yet unknown reason, he chose to execute his mother before embarking on a drive to Ottawa, where — armed with guns, ammunition, and makeshift explosives — he planned to attack his high school and, afterward, assassinate Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. En route to his school, however, Grantham experienced what the judge interpreted as a moment of lucidity or moral clarity and instead drove to the nearest police department, where he turned himself in.
Grantham pleaded guilty to second degree murder, a crime which carries an automatic life sentence in Vancouver. At his sentencing hearing, the judge ruled that Grantham would be eligible for parole in 14 years, at which time he will be in his mid-30s. Mitigating circumstances that contributed to the leniency of his sentence were his behavior in prison, his participation in psychiatric programs while in custody, and his perceived remorse in the eyes of the court.
Sons of Guns star Will Hayden is serving multiple life sentences
Starting in 2011, the Discovery Channel began producing a reality television series called "Sons of Guns," which followed the day-to-day operations of Louisiana-based firearms company Red Jacket Firearms LLC. The company was owned and operated by William Hayden, a Baton Rouge native who had been fascinated with weaponry his entire life.
In August 2014, Hayden was arrested on charges of juvenile molestation and aggravated crimes against nature (a relatively broad legal term that includes any sexual acts the state deems to be unnatural). Despite Hayden denying these claims, the Discovery Channel quickly canceled "Sons of Guns" and Hayden was legally separated from Red Jacket Firearms LLC. Further and increasingly disturbing allegations arose, and — after multiple separate legal proceedings — Hayden received three consecutive life sentences plus 40 years for a litany of sex crimes.
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues or mental health, or may be the victim of child abuse or sexual assault, contact the relevant resources below:
- Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
- Please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
- Please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.
- Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).