Dog the Bounty Hunter, wife launch foundation to fight sex trafficking: 'Still chasing bad guys’
Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman and his wife, Francie, have embarked on a fight against sex trafficking, feeling a call from God to launch The D.O.G. Foundation nonprofit to rehabilitate abused women and hunt down traffickers.
"Dog and I know that God brought us together in the most miraculous way for His purpose — to bring glory to Him and to the Kingdom," Francie Chapman said in a video interview with The Christian Post.
"So we really have been focused on what does that look like for God to use us in that way."
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The vision came to light after the couple teamed up with Francie Chapman's best friend, Katie Sousa, who runs Expected End Ministries, to do prison ministry.
The things they witnessed in prison "were so powerful and incredible."
"[Katie] and I have this heart for women who have been abused and are coming out of drugs and sex trafficking and abusive situations," Francie Chapman continued. "Katie and I both have come out of the drug world, the street life, and so that really was huge on our hearts."
According to statistics from Traffick Watch, sex trafficking affects individuals of every age, ethnicity and socio-economic background. At any given time in 2016, an estimated 40.3 million people were in modern-day slavery.
"Dog's been chasing bad guys for all of these years and has arrested 10,000 people and has made a huge difference in so many guy's lives," his bride described.
Now, Chapman also seeks to help the women coming out of prison.
"The women coming out of prison have nowhere to go because they have been in abusive relationships and have been using drugs, and they want to get their lives together, but they don't really know how to do that," Francie Chapman explained.
"Part of our plan in The D.O.G. Foundation is that we want to show these women how loved they are by the Lord. First and foremost, we want them to know because that's what changed Katie and I's life is an encounter with the Lord. Knowing how loved we are by Him and then teaching them that they can get healed from all the things that they've been through, and the lives that they were in."
The couple married in 2021 following the deaths of both of their spouses. Through their charity, they will provide safe houses called the House of Bounty.
The D.O.G. Foundation will also offer those rescued from trafficking a two-year Christian program to bring spiritual healing.
"We want these women to get whole and healed and know who they are in the Lord and know that they can have a life that is so much greater than where they were and learn how to have a whole full life going forward," she said. "Because God's in the business of restoration and redemption, we want to help these women walk into that calling."
As part of the initiative, Chapman and a team of retired law enforcement officers called "The Essentials" will seek to hunt down the traffickers.
Dog is "still chasing the bad guys and still chasing these guys that are trying to groom these women into sex trafficking and kidnapping them also," his wife noted.
"In your early 50s, it's a mandatory retirement from the federal government. Sorry for all the youngsters out there, but the Bible says that you inherit wisdom and knowledge after 50. These guys have 20-some years left in them to hunt," Dog told CP about his team.
Many victims of human trafficking return to their captors if not assisted once taken out of compromising situations.
"They're not just grooming them. They're kidnapping them," Dog said.
Chapman met his team of retired officers during the 2021 nationwide search for Brian Laundrie, who was accused of killing his fiancé, Gabby Petito, and died of a self-inflicted gunshot after being declared a "person of interest" in her death.
During their work, Dog realized just how effective they would be if they joined forces regularly.
"Francie and I were like, 'Whoa, these guys are already trained. Their heart is in it. They want to catch the guy. They're extremely intelligent law enforcement. The longer someone's been in law enforcement, the smarter they are. So these guys are trained, they're spiritual," he said.
In addition to helping catch traffickers, The D.O.G. Foundation will strive not to give trafficked women "handouts" but "hand-ups."
"We will coach. Instead of a handout, we're giving a hand-up. They got to have that," he emphasized. "We all were [there]. We had to be caught. We had to be threatened. We had to be coerced. We had to be loved to be able to get in that position. So we know how to get to the top of that mountain because we climbed it."
Francie Chapman testified that she survived several abusive situations in her life. She said she was molested by her brother growing up and was in a very abusive marriage with a lot of drugs involved.
"Dog and I've been there, and Katie has been there. And so, we know what it takes to help walk alongside someone and help them come up," she stated. "It's about lifting them up. It's not just about letting me teach you how to do this, and then you go out and do it. It's walking alongside them. It's walking them through the pain and the trauma and the hurt and the low self-esteem."
"So many of these girls and women are struggling with low self-esteem because they've been told for so long that they're worthless and worth nothing," she added. "So you can't just read that out of a book; that has to be molded into them."
The Chapmans hope to disciple these women, but they need funding to get their first house up and running.
"The D.O.G. houses will grow like crazy because the girls that come in there and learn are going to be teaching," Dog said.
"When I bounty hunted, you got a reward. You caught the guy, you got the money. This isn't the same. You help the girl; there's no reward. So we got to get some funding going."
"We're the first ones to step into this role."
The couple believes that when faced with great evils in the world, it is essential for believers to help.
"If we can rise up in all of the bad that happens and use that to build strength in us for what God's called us to, to help other people, that's how we win," Francie Chapman said. "That's how the devil loses. That's how we kick the devil in the teeth."
Dog concluded with a final plea for support.
"I'm on the frontlines, always have been — 10,000 arrests, drug addicts, thousands of them — so we're back into this now full blast," he said.
The D.O.G. Foundation has launched a Christmas pop-up store to raise funds for the initiative.
For more information visit dogfoundation.com.
Jeannie Ortega Law is a reporter for The Christian Post. Reach her at: [email protected] She's also the author of the book, What Is Happening to Me? How to Defeat Your Unseen Enemy Follow her on Twitter: @jlawcp Facebook: JeannieOMusic
