Keep Bailing

Scenario: you get a call from a friend, loved one, or worse yet, your child. “Hi, I’m in jail and I’d like to be bailed out.” What do you do? The most frequent first step is searching the Internet for an ethical or trustworthy bail bonds company. But what exactly qualifies “trustworthy” or “ethical“?

Here are four ways to know if the bail bonds companies you are filtering through might be considered unethical or untrustworthy.

1. Undercutting Bail Premiums AKA Illegal Discounts: You’ve narrowed your search for a bondsman online. So you start calling to interview to see which one fits best . The first one you call sounds okay, but when you get to the point of discussing premium (the fee for the bond), they start mentioning discounts that no other bondsman will give you. Suggestion? Tell them, “Thank you for your time, I will get back to you.” Why are you hanging up on this bail bonds company? One word: “discount.” In most states, Read more »

Charged with going AWOL, Chris Parks proves it was all just a mix-up

At 27 years old, Chris Parks never expected to return from a trip to Central America with friends - only to be arrested. He didn’t know why he caught the attention of  Homeland Security officials, but he would soon find out. Going AWOL, is what they charged him with. He was thrown into the County jail in Charlotte, N.C. for one week, and that was only the beginning of his ordeal.

Read more »

Latest Swine Flu: Orange County Jail

Throughout California, swine flu is effecting jail populations. Last week, we reported quarantines at San Diego jails and swine flu outbreaks at Los Angeles County jails. 

On Tuesday, an Orange County Superior Court Judge ruled that there is legal justification to keep the Orange County Jail under quarantine to control the outbreak of swine flu at that jail.

So far 25 inmates Read more »

The long, long wait…

In the wake of the Bernie Madoff debacle, I thought it would be interesting to discuss the history of some of the longest U.S. prison terms. By the way, Bernie faces a statutory maximum sentence  for his 11 counts of white collar crime – 150 years for which he pleaded guilty in March of this year. But that sentence pales in comparison to others who have had the hammer slammed down upon them.

Another white collar crimer Read more »

As a bail bondsman, I think that the questions I’m asked the most revolve around “Who do you bail out? What’s it like working with criminals all the time? Is it dangerous? You must meet some interesting people?”

I’m not sure people believe me when I tell them that a day in the life of a bail bondsman is not much different than most small business jobs — except perhaps answering the phone at all hours. I’m quite certain that people are disappointed to hear that bail bonding just isn’t particularly exciting. The people we bail out tend to be regular joe’s (or jane’s) who just happened to use bad judgement or be in the wrong situation.

I read a blog post by Adelita this weekend where she interviewed a female bail bondsman. I thought that she summed up bail bond clients well:

“… I asked about the type of clients she has and how she can remain neutral or not be judgmental. Read more »

Fresno County Jail was holding 19 year old Jose Alfredo Reyes on one count of auto theft. Highway patrol had arrested him and booked him in to the jail on a Sunday. Reyes was released early because the Fresno jail was overcrowded. He is now sought after for a double homicide that happened three days later.

Wednesday, following Reyes’ release, Read more »

A new jail has been approved for Santee, California near the 52 and 67 freeways. The new 45 acre jail facility is budgeted at $308.5 million. It will replace the current Las Colinas women’s jail which was built in the 1960’s. The San Diego county Board of Supervisors approved these plans last month. But since then, the City of Santee has brought a lawsuit to San Diego Court Wednesday, citing that the county violated the state environmental law. Santee city argues that the county did not consider the impact on traffic and public safety for the city.

Santee also filed a lawsuit last year against the county involving a $100 million state grant to expand the Las Colinas jail, Read more »

In the course of our work, we have occasion to deal with attorneys. One might assume that we’re primarily dealing with criminal defense attorneys, but we also hear from other attorneys. Seems that when someone is in trouble and they don’t know what to do, they contact their personal attorney. Even if the attorney doesn’t do criminal work, they probably can give a good referral. When that attorney referral  come to us, as professional, experienced bail agents, we take care to maintain the attorney’s trust.

I provide this as background, because recently, someone painted me an interesting picture of how they view criminal defense attorneys: Read more »

Marquise Loftis, 18 years old of San Diego, was arrested this morning leaving his San Diego home under suspicion the shooting a trolley guard and was booked at the San Diego County Central Jail.   Police are crediting the public for helping out with the arrest.

The security guard for the San Diego Trolley system was shot on July 18, at the La Mesa trolley station. Earlier in the week, on the 15th of July, the same guard was attacked where his gun and ammunition was stolen. This attack happened at the Encanto trolley station.  Loftis is allegedly responsible for both incidents.

Prank calls seem to go hand-in-hand with being a teenager. It’s a bit of a right of passage, but prank calls to the authorities are a bit more serious. The Mercury News reports that 10 San Mateo Sheriff units were dispatched after the Redwood City Sheriff dispatch received a call that there had been a shooting.

Finding no victim after a thorough search, Deputies determined the call to be a hoax. After investigation, a 19 year old man was arrested, having allegedly placed the 911 call from a friend’s cell phone he had snatched as a prank.

Placing 911 calls results in Police units traveling at higher speeds than normal to get to the crime scenes and essentially endangers the surrounding public. Fake 911 calls just puts more people in danger and the Police Departments do not take lightly to these crimes; not too mention that additional tax payer’s money.