Discovery Spikes ‘Sons Of Guns’ After “Serious And Horrific” New Charges Against Star

“Given the serious and horrific nature of the charges against William Hayden, we have decided to halt further production of Sons Of Guns and cancel the series,” Discovery Channel said in a statement about the star of its reality show. Sons Of Guns followed Hayden and his company Red Jacket Firearms, which buys, sells, refurbishes and designs firearms.

East Baton Rouge Parish authorities arrested Hayden around 3 PM Tuesday. This time, he is charged with aggravated rape, victimizing his daughter since March 2013, when she was 11.  Hayden previously was arrested Aug. 9 on charges of molestation of a juvenile and aggravated crimes against nature. At the time, he claimed the charges were false and stemmed from a conflict with a former girlfriend.

According to local media reports, East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office rep Casey Hicks said that during its investigation around the first arrest, “we received more information that these rapes allegedly occurred from March 2013 to July 2014 of our victim, who was 11 and then later 12 years old at the time,” and the victim told police the alleged acts occurred almost daily, but she did not report them because of threats Hayden made.

Sons Of Guns was not airing on Discovery at the time of the first arrest, but the show was preparing to restart production before the first arrest put it on hold. At that time, crew members were advised the show was unlikely to return to the network, but Discovery waited until Tuesday’s arrest to announce it had pulled the plug.