'Girls Gone Wild' Distributor Charged in Hit-and-Run Death

The head of the "Girls Gone Wild" DVD distributor in Australia was charged with vehicular manslaughter in a fatal hit-and-run crash in West Hollywood, Calif., the Associated Press reported Friday.

Ryan Bowman, 43, was allegedly driving his Bentley early Thursday morning when his car struck and killed 21-year-old Lauren Ann Freeman, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which added that it believes alcohol was involved. Bowman, who fled the scene, later turned himself in to West Hollywood authorities.

Bowman runs Zeal Entertainment, the Australian distributor of the "Girls Gone Wild" DVDs. A year ago, a federal judge sentenced "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis to 301 days of jail time, which he'd already served, and a year of probation after he pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns and bribing jail workers, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Bowman's bail was initially set at $100,000, but the Sheriff's Department told the Associated Press that the bail was later raised to $2 million.