Rand Gauthier did not go to jail, and several reports have it that he currently lives in Santa Rosa, California, where he grows marijuana and tries to convince the people around him that he was the one responsible for stealing and, subsequently, distributing Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson’s sex tape.
That’s right! Rand Gauthier was indeed responsible for stealing the safe that had the Tommy Lee and Pam Anderson sex tape, which eventually made its way to the public domain. The 2022 Hulu and Disney Plus show Pam and Tommy have managed to provide glimpses of the 1990s scandal involving Rand Gauthier, an electrician, and former celebrity couple, Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson. The show did its best to provide details of what really happened, but there were gaping holes in the story; holes this article aims to fill.
What Happened To Rand Gauthier?
Rand Gauthier’s contract with Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson was canceled, and he was unceremoniously fired. Stealing the safe that had the infamous sex tape in it was simply an act of revenge on Rand Gauthier’s part. To fully get a grip on the series of events that led to the theft of the safe, it is important to examine how Gauthier became involved with the celebrity couple in the first place.
Model and Baywatch star Pamela Anderson and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee were the “it” couple of the early to mid-1990s. The former couple was at the top of their game in the spring of 1995, and their relationship was even better, reflected in the way they appeared to be so happy with each other.
Somewhere along the line, they decided to renovate their Malibu mansion, and they needed several contractors to get the job done. One of the contractors who landed the gig was electrician Rand Gauthier. However, Pam and Tommy made the lives of the contractors a living hell with their unrealistic demands, most of which were never fulfilled.
Instead of recognizing the fact that some of the demands they made were unreasonable, the former power couple proceeded to fire most of the crew they hired for the remodeling job. Gauthier and his team were part of the unfortunate group that was let go, and he would have gone quietly but for the manner in which they were let go.
Other than the fact that they were released prematurely from their contracts, the former couple refused to pay for the work they had seen to completion. Gauthier alone was owed around $20,000. Furthermore, when he went to retrieve his work tools from the mansion, he ended up having his life threatened by Tommy Lee, who pointed a gun at his face and demanded that he get off the property.
For Rand, it was an experience that shook his core because, according to him, while he was never really a popular character, he had never been held at gunpoint, and it messed with his head and set off a series of events that would alter his and the couple’s lives forever. In the end, Gauthier stole the safe containing the sex tape Tommy and Pamela had made.
Was Rand Gauthier Arrested?
Rand Gauthier was later arrested for his significant involvement in the theft and distribution of the sex tape starring Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. However, it is important to unveil the discrepancies between the events portrayed in the Hulu and Disney Plus TV series Pam & Tommy and the true version of the events that occurred in the 1990s.
In the fourth episode of the TV series, the TV version of the former power couple eventually discovers that the safe, and with it the sex tape they had made, was gone from where Tommy had it stashed in his garage. They engage the services of a private investigator to help them find the safe and the person who stole it.
To effectively carry out the assignment, the private investigator proceeds to ask the couple if they have any enemies. Probably to cut down on screen time, they immediately point the finger at Rand Gauthier, who they portrayed as a disgruntled contractor who was out to get revenge on them for firing him. He, in turn, became the primary suspect and was eventually hunted down in record time.
The true version of events is not as cut and dried as the version of events in the series because Tommy and Pam were not even aware that the safe was missing for over two months. By the time they did, it had already been distributed severally and seen by thousands.
They then proceeded to hire Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano to help them find out who was responsible for their woes, and even then, it took the couple and Pellicano long to deduce the fact that Gauthier was responsible for the theft and distribution of the tape, and even longer to hunt down the former porn actor.
Was Rand Gauthier Charged?
Rand Gauthier was never charged for his involvement in the Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape scandal. He also did not go to jail or face any significant legal repercussions for illegally obtaining and distributing the tape. The lawsuit Pam and Tommy filed did very little to deter the distribution of the tape.
The judges in charge of the case struggled with the fact that internet crime was still such a new concept at the time, and they also had to deal with the challenges presented by the legality of the tape’s distribution. They only managed to hand down a few fines, which were slaps on the wrist at best, and the former couple ended up not getting the kind of justice they would have liked for their legal woes.
The aftermath of the scandal left the former couple with mixed fortunes, defined by the fact that Tommy Lee’s career seemed to receive a major boost that he rode for a long time, but Pamela’s reputation took a hit, and she never really recovered from the damage the release of that tape did to her acting career and finances. According to her son, she was in debt for most of her life.
Where Is Rand Gauthier Now?
Rand Gauthier currently makes his home in Santa Rosa, California, where he has since started his own electrical company called Q Electrical Services. His company specializes in wiring motor controllers and other equipment used to control the speed of machinery. On the side, he grows marijuana in his garage.
Gauthier once claimed to be researching Polyacrylamide gels and working on a book concerning the nature of magic and symbolism in religion. His Facebook page indicates that the electrician, who is now well into his 60s, is not married and does not have any children from any of his previous relations.
Whatever may be said about Rand Gauthier, his legacy as the man responsible for leaking the first real celebrity sex tape will be remembered in adult entertainment circles.
What Is Rand Gauthier’s Net Worth?
According to Cinemaholic and other reliable sources, Rand Gauthier has a net worth currently estimated to be around $200k. Considering the fact that the income from the sale of the tape crossed the $70 million dollar mark in its first year alone, the figure signifying Gauthier’s net worth pales in comparison. It also questions how much the electrician made from the sale of the tape. The answer to that question will be answered shortly, but let’s examine the other sources of income from which Gauthier accumulated his current net worth.
It’s been confirmed that Rand Gauthier was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, by a mother who was a devoted Jehovah’s Witness. That upbringing stirred the curiosity of a young Rand concerning cults and conspiracies. His mother remains the only family member that can be accounted for, and not much is known about what his early years on earth were like.
Details of his formal educational background are limited to the fact that he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrophysics from California State University. We have yet to ascertain whether he put that shining degree to good use immediately after graduating from school.
We can, however, confirm that an encounter with porn actress Erica Boyer, whom he married and later divorced, during the late 1980s momentarily altered the course of Rand Gauthier’s existence. She got him in the room with some porn film directors, and the outcome of those introductions was that Rand Gauthier became a porn actor under the alias Austin Moore. His career as a porn star included 79 films, but he was disillusioned by the fact that he had to have sex in a room full of people.
That state of things caused him to revert to the profession for which he was trained as an electrician. His income stream, while not as lucrative as his porn career, was more than enough to sustain him financially, as he was in demand. Gauthier’s career as an electrician was what helped him land the contract to work at Pam and Tommy’s Malibu mansion.
Rand’s career as an electrician also includes the time he spent working at the University of California as an electrician, as well as the time he spent at Tricon International, where he served as an electrical engineer and business relations manager. The electrician also spent some time working for the New York mob, but it is unclear if he made any money working for them since he took the job to pay off a debt in the first place.
How Much Did Rand Gauthier Make Off The Tape?
According to several reports, Rand Gauthier initially landed a significant payday from selling the sex tape for around $175 a pop from the trunk of his car, but for some unknown reason, that stream of income soon dried up. Further reports reveal that the sex tape raked in more than $77 million in the first year alone but that the electrician never saw a cent of that huge windfall.
Several sources reveal that Rand’s financial situation was so bad that he even became indebted to mob boss Louis “Butchie” Peraino, who fronted him the money he required to distribute the tape. To offset that debt, the electrician had no choice but to work for the mob.
After he was unceremoniously booted off Tommy and Pamela’s property at gunpoint, Rand Gauthier used his extensive background in security services and knowledge of the estate’s security system to return to the property when Tommy and Pamela were away from home. In the end, he left the property with just one thing – the safe that had the sex tape in it.
When Rand stole the safe, he could not have imagined what the contents of the safe would be. In fact, before he cracked open the safe, he assumed that he would find weapons and some jewelry that he hoped to sell to cover what the couple owed him. Nothing prepared him for the tape he later found.
At this point, it is worth noting that Rand Gauthier has a background in the adult film industry, and he ended up using his rather extensive network to release that private moment to the public. His primary ally in this relatively sordid venture was the 1990s pornography mogul Milton “Uncle Miltie” Ingley.
At first, they tried to sell it to several adult entertainment companies, but while the industry would never win any points for morals, the companies Rand and Milton attempted to sell the tape to refused to oblige them without signed written consent from Tommy and Pam. The pair were left with little choice but to figure out another way to distribute the tape, and that’s when they were exposed to the intricacies of the modern internet.
When they eventually got the hang of it, they started selling VHS copies of the private recording online for about $59.95, and for a while, the money they made from these sales was astronomical, but because neither Rand nor Milton held exclusive rights to the video because of how it was obtained, they found it quite challenging to stop others from copying and selling the tape for themselves.
This caused their funds to dwindle, and the stress of it all was compounded by the $50k Rand had secured from the New York mobster Peraino. Milton took off to Europe and continued from where he had stopped in the US.
In the end, the copyright for the tape would go to Club Love, a porn site notable for its shady dealings. Club Love initially approached Lee and Anderson to sign the rights to the tape over to them, but they refused. They then played the tape on a loop for five hours straight, leaving the power couple with no choice but to sign over the rights to them.
