Not guilty plea entered for Bambi producer

Sito Negron

Friday, Aug. 29, 2003 | 11:10 a.m.

The Bambi hunting guide wasn't in court for his arraignment Thursday, but his lawyer entered a not guilty plea and the initial hearing on the case was set for Oct. 14.

Michael Burdick, the man who has been the face of the "Hunting for Bambi" video production company since the story broke in early July, is facing charges of operating a video sales business without a license. If convicted, he could be fined up to $1,000 and could be sentenced to up to si months in jail.

His lawyer, Craig Mueller, said after the arraignment that the charge is an obscure one, suggesting that the city worked to find a legal violation with which they could go after Burdick.

"We got books of laws this thick," Mueller said. "Somebody spent a lot of time flipping through a lot of pages to make this case."

City Attorney Brad Jerbic would not discuss specifics of the case, but called the charge "far from obscure."

He did say that Mueller's hallway comments were irrelevant.

"What happens in the courtroom is what is relevant," Jerbic said.

According to numbers provided by the city, inspectors referred at least 226 complaints of doing business without a license to the attorney's office between 1999 and 2002. That does not include other complaints that may have been filed by Metro Police, who also can refer doing business without a license charges to the city attorney.

Numbers of cases that actually went to court, and the disposition of those cases, was not available Thursday.

Meanwhile, the confusion as to who owns the business, whether it still is operating, and where it went, continued after the brief hearing.

When asked where his client was, Mueller said "Mr. Burdick is attending to business." When asked if Burdick still was selling the Hunting for Bambi videos, Mueller said he was. Mueller also said Burdick has a business license somewhere other than Las Vegas, but he wasn't sure where.

When pressed on whether that meant Burdick now owned the business, Mueller said he had no comment.

Hunting for Bambi was a creation of a company for which Lakana Campbell, Burdick's fiancee, had a business license, under Campbell's name only. City officials have said that the business license didn't cover all the business's activities or Burdick's role.

Las Vegas City Council had planned a hearing for Sept. 3 to consider revoking Campbell's business license, but that has been canceled because Campbell surrendered the license last week.

They say Burdick was at Campbell's home near the Las Vegas Beltway and Cheyenne Avenue -- which is the listed address on the license application for Real Men -- when business investigators showed up in July. The city claims he told them that he ran the business.

The website that sells the videos -- which purport to show men stalking nude women, then shooting them with paintballs -- still is operating. A post office box number in St. Petersburg, Fla., is listed on the web page for contacts.

Reached by telephone after the hearing, Burdick said that he lives in St. Petersburg. He said that the company behind Hunting for Bambi, Real Men Productions Inc., does not yet have a new business license.

"We just moved the mail (to St. Petersburg) because that's where I live," he said. "I'm a resident there." He said the mail was moved so he could take care of unfinished business: "If I can't do business in the city I move everything away from the city."

He said he was speaking as director of operations, a job he described as similar to that of an uncompensated board member.

Thursday, when asked whether he now owned the business, since Campbell gave up the license, and whether it was still operating or still would operate, he said: "I don't know until my attorney advises me. I don't know anything right now, we're so up in the air."