Red Jacket Firearms founder and owner William Hayden, star of the Discovery Channel reality show "Sons of Guns," was arrested in Louisiana and charged with raping a 12-year-old girl, authorities told the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Since the arrest, the Discovery Channel has canceled the show and the Red Jacket Firearms distanced itself from Hayden,
according to the Times-Picayune.
"Given the serious and horrific nature of the charges against Will Hayden, we have decided to halt further production of 'Sons of Guns' and cancel the series," Laurie Goldberg, a spokesperson for Discovery Channel said in a statement Wednesday.
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On Tuesday, Red Jacket Firearms issued a statement on Facebook saying it was seeking a "legal separation" from Hayden and that he would "no longer take part in any aspect of the companies."
The Times-Picayune reported that the U.S. Marshal Office in East Baton Rouge Parish arrested Hayden Tuesday in Livingston Parish as a fugitive from East Baton Rouge Parish. The newspaper said, according to a probable cause affidavit, the alleged victim told detectives that Hayden had raped her almost daily, taking her virginity when she was 11 and did not report the acts because she feared physical abuse from him.
The Baton Rouge Advocate reported that Hayden called the charges false, coming from an "an angry woman" that the business owner recently ended a relationship with.
C. Frank Holthaus, Hayden's attorney, told the newspaper that the rape charges are made by a woman who Hayden recently fired from a job at his gun shop. Holthaus also said Hayden's relationship with the woman was only professional in nature, not romantic.
"These allegations were raised well more than a week ago in connection with and retaliation for Will ending that relationship," said a statement released by Hayden, according to the Advocate.
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