Jeremy Meeks

Jeremy Ray Meeks (born February 7, 1984) is an American fashion model and actor.

Meeks was born in Tacoma, Washington, on February 7, 1984, and is the son of Katherine Angier and Emery Meeks.

In 2002, Meeks was charged with robbery and corporal injury to a child, assaulting a 16-year-old boy.

He was sentenced to serve two years in a California prison, during which he admitted to claiming to be a member of the North Side Gangster Crips.

Stockton Police Department spokesman Joe Silva acknowledged that the mugshot had received more attention than any other mugshot since they launched the Facebook page in 2012.

As of April 2021, the post has received 95,000 "likes", 24,000 comments, and 11,000 shares.

A former member of the Crips street gang, Meeks was arrested in 2014 during a gang sweep called Operation Ceasefire in Stockton, California, after which police posted his mugshot on Facebook, which went viral due to his appearance.

He was convicted on federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and grand theft.

On June 18, 2014, Stockton Police Department arrested Meeks and three other men in a multi-agency law enforcement mission dubbed Operation Ceasefire.

Meeks was listed as a "convicted felon, arrested for felony weapon charges".

He denied the charges.

The same day, Meeks' and the other men's mugshots were posted on the Stockton Police Department's Facebook page.

Within 24 hours from when the photos were posted to the department's page, Meeks' photo had acquired more than 15,000 "likes" and 3,700 comments, mostly from women enamored of his looks.

The next day, on June 19, news and entertainment site BuzzFeed recognized Meeks' mugshot as a "meme".

On Friday, June 20, Twitter fans created the hashtag "#feloncrushfriday" in honor of Meeks' mugshot.

A July 2014 court hearing was set, while Meeks awaited his trial at the San Joaquin County Jail, with his bail set at $1,050,000.

Meeks' mother, Katherine Angier, set up a GoFundMe page in an attempt to raise money for his bail.

His sister, Leanna Rominger, used the proceeds from the campaign to hire a defense lawyer for him.

On July 3, 2014, a Northern California Grand Jury indicted Meeks on a charge of possession of a semiautomatic .45 caliber pistol that was transported across state borders in the commission of Grand Theft.

The state dropped its charges against Meeks and his case was handed over to federal prosecutors.

On February 5, 2015, Meeks was convicted by a federal judge of one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison.

The judge further ordered Meeks to participate in the 500-Hour Bureau of Prisons Substance Abuse Treatment Program.

He was incarcerated at Mendota Federal Correctional Institution.

On March 4, 2015, photographer and talent agent Jim Jordan's company White Cross Management confirmed having signed a management contract with Meeks.

Meeks' mugshot was noticed by modeling agencies and, upon his release from Mendota Federal Correctional Institution in March 2016, he began a modeling career.

Meeks served 13 months of the sentence, and was released from prison March 8, 2016, after which he was ordered to reside in a transitional housing facility for a few weeks.

Jordan began working with Meeks upon the latter's release from the transitional housing facility which he was ordered to stay in after his March 2016 release from prison.

Meeks' first modeling headshot was published in June 2016.

White Cross Management continues to manage Meeks, and featured Meeks on the cover of their online magazines James Magazine USA Vol. VII and White Cross Magazine Vol. 01.

On February 13, 2017, Meeks made his runway debut for the Philipp Plein Fall/Winter 2017/2018 Women's And Men's Fashion Show collection at the New York Public Library during New York Fashion Week.

In April, Meeks was scheduled for an appearance and series of photo shoots in the United Kingdom, but was barred from entering the country upon landing in Heathrow Airport.

Meeks was interrogated by officials and then sent back to the United States.

Meeks made his European runway debut in May 2017 at Philipp Plein’s resort 2018 presentation at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.

In August 2017, Meeks appeared in a campaign for Israeli sunglasses fashion house Carolina Lemke, partially owned by Israeli model Bar Refaeli.

The campaign tagged Meeks' background as different from Refaeli's, who appeared in the campaign alongside Meeks, stating, "There has never been a mix like this".

In December, Meeks appeared on the cover of the men's fashion magazine MMScene.

He then walked for Plein’s spring/summer 2018 sport collection on June 18 during Milan Fashion Week.

Meeks appeared in Tommy Hilfiger's Spring 2018 fashion show in Milan on February 25 of the same year.

The show was a collaboration with model Gigi Hadid and ran during Milan Fashion Week.

He appeared on the cover of the Summer 2018 issues of the fashion and lifestyle magazines FV and L' Officiel Hommes.