Dog the Bounty Hunter makes stop on Main Street
Duane "Dog" Chapman and his wife, Beth, from the popular television show on the A&E cable network, stopped by Main Street Books for a book signing.
The show usually airs once a week and profiles Dog and his family, who operate a bail bonds and bounty hunting business in Hawaii.Dog's new book, released earlier this month, called "You Can Run But You Can't Hide" has made the New York Times best-seller list.
Dog and his posse arrived shortly after noon through the back alley of the small bookstore.
"Where am I?" Dog whispered to Beth.
"You're in St. Charles," she answered.
Dog greeted the crowd with his signature Hawaiian hand wave, and told them he was blessed to have done well on his autobiography.
"We have a lot of fans here in this state," he said. "I'm not a big, bad dog. I'm a lucky dog. Hopefully someone reads this book and knows that they can do it, too. I am living the American dream."
Trista Marquand drove about an hour and a half from Rolla to get her copy of the book signed. She's also a bail bonds agent and bounty hunter. She said her husband, Steve, talked her into it.
"It was really exciting when we started doing pickups," said Marquand, 24. "It's not as dramatic as TV. Most people don't go on the run, but there are exceptions."
Judy Stanforth, of St. Peters, waited outside the bookstore in the hot sun, clutching her line number. She wanted her book signed so she could give it to her son.
"He's in the Air Force, and he's going to the Middle East," she said. "I thought it would be nice to send it to him."
Beth said she and her husband chose to come to St. Charles because both she and Dog were raised in small towns.
"My grandma lives in Joplin," she said. "We go to smaller towns where this doesn't happen all the time. Dog has never been a city person. We like to come where his people are."
As people filed through the line to meet Dog, they occasionally stopped for a photo opportunity with Beth.
Charges were recently dropped against Dog after he was imprisoned in Mexico for illegally capturing Andrew Luster, heir to the Max Factor fortune. Luster was charged with several counts of rape.
"The Andrew Luster capture was a family affair," she said. "It showed that one family sets goals and achieves them. It was a great accomplishment."
Beth said that although their job might look staged on television, all situations are real, and so are their personalities.
"What you see is what you get," she said. "I am the same as I am right now."
Some O'Fallon police officers stopped to talk to Dog and Beth. They posed for pictures.
"Dog pays special attention to law enforcement," Beth said.
Beth said they have enjoyed going on the book signing tour and giving people the chance to see they are real people.
"People are able to really see he's not just a vigilante with a crazy hairdo," she said.
