What 'world's hottest felon' did to end up in jail as what he looks like now is revealed

Jeremy Meeks, better known as the 'hot felon', went viral in 2014 after his mugshot captured the attention of thousands worldwide.

After it was shared by police on Facebook, it quickly racked up thousands of likes and comments as people were taken aback by the handsome felon.

His striking looks - with a shaven head, stubble, tattoos, and piercing blue eyes staring down the lens - quickly earned him millions of admirers.

But what did the hot felon do to get arrested in the first place?

Meeks and three other men were arrested by Stockton Police Department on June 18, 2014, as part of a multi-agency law enforcement mission dubbed Operation Ceasefire.

Meeks denied the charges, but was listed as a "convicted felon, arrested for felony weapon charges", and his and several other men's photos were shared on Facebook following the arrest.

His bail was set at $1,050,000, and a Northern California grand jury indicted Meeks on July 3, 2014, 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, and 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.

He was also ordered to participate in the 500-Hour Bureau of Prisons Substance Abuse Treatment Program while incarcerated at Mendota Federal Correctional Institution.[

Meeks served 13 months of his sentence before he was released on March 8, 2016, and ordered to reside in a transitional housing facility for several weeks following his release from prison.

Meeks opened up about the strange time after his mugshot went viral, when obsessed fans would take up his limited visiting slots to try and get close to him while he was in prison, stopping his young son from being able to visit.

In March 2026, Meeks appeared on the Matthew Cox - Inside True Crime podcast where he revealed: "I’m still a month into my mug shot going viral. This is so fresh that I'm still getting letters. I got random, random f**king people coming up to visit me."

He revealed that they never actually got to spend time with him face to face as he would deny them "before I even walk up the stairs into the section" as he could see them through the glass, and told officers he did not know who the visitor was.

Despite him turning down their visits, the prison still counted them as among his two-per-week allowance.

"They're like, ‘Well, I'm still taking your visit. You can deny it, but I'm still gonna take your visit for the week.' So now my family can't come because I got f**king random people coming to see me and it was so frustrating."

He recalled telling two people who'd returned numerous times: "'Hey, please don't come back. I need to see my kids.

"'My son's 5 years old and he doesn't understand why I'm not home and he needs to see me. I’m just gonna ask that you please don't come back.'"

He admitted: "It was rough. And the only thing that made it rough is ‘cause my kids."

Featured image credit: Stockton Police Department via Getty Images