'Hot felon' heading for the catwalk

  • 11/03/2016
(Reuters)
(Reuters)

The handsome US criminal whose mugshot went viral online has been released from prison, and is bound for the catwalk.

Jeremy Meeks was arrested on weapons charges in 2014 by the Stockton Police Department, which posted his mugshot on its Facebook page. The image, showing his piercing blue eyes and chiselled jaw, quickly gained thousands of responses and now has over 100,000 likes.

As the post went viral, modelling contract offers poured in for the "hot felon", with agents competing to represent him after he had completed his sentence.

One year later, he is being released to a transitional housing facility, where he will live for a few weeks before he is "completely free to start his new journey", his manager Jim Jordan told the LA Times.

In an Instagram post, Meeks says: "I want to thank my family and everybody for all your love, support and prayers. I'm overwhelmed and grateful for what lies ahead."

"We have a lot in store regarding Jeremy's new career," says Mr Jordan.

"We're putting everything in place," he told BuzzFeed. "We're in talks with a lot of different agencies. There's movies on the table. We have a lot of different things happening."

Newshub.