Keep Bailing

“Will the bail be decreased at court?” That’s a question we get quite often. Usually, it’s asked when someone is comptemplating should I bail out my friend? Well, the judge has all the lattitude. No, the judge will not automatically lower bail when the defendant goes to court. The judge may increase bail, decrease bail, leave it the same, or change to “no bail.”

Such may have been the question of Allegra Fromby a former elementary school vice president was out on bail in San Bernardino County for $75K. She had been charged with two counts of felony drug possession. At her court appearance on 9/14, her bail was Read more »

Most every county jail has a website, including the Orange County Jail. The websites provide all kinds of information, including inmate information and can be used by anyone who has access to a computer. For Lake County, Sheriff’s are now delaying the posted information by 2 days. Their reasons for delaying the information is that they feel that bail bondsmen are obtaining information about recently booked inmates and heading to the jail to illegally solicit bail business, which is a misdemeanor offense.

Bail bondsmen are believed to be lying to the jailers, indicating Read more »

Labor Day Weekend DUI Crackdown

Earlier this week, Robin told us about the upcoming Labor Day Weekend DUI crackdowns. She painted a likely scenario of having martini’s and partying like a rock star, then foolishly driving home. But what does it really take to get a DUI?

You probably how you think most people get a DUI after a night of partying hard, but think again. Let’s just say you go to dinner have two glasses of wine. Pay the valet and head home. What’s with the traffic up ahead? DUI Checkpoint, but you’re fine, you just had a couple of glasses of wine… you unroll the window, the officer quickly shines a flashlight near you, your eyes give you away because they dilate involuntarily – especially if you’ve had a couple of drinks. “Step out of the vehicle,” says the officer. You’re still thinking no problem here… Think again, DUI is about being under the influence and you are! Sorry, but this is going to cost you.

You will be arrested and jailed if you’ve been drinking, you’re stopped and your blood alcohol level is found to be .08% or even under! 

According to Read more »

Labor Day DUI Crack Down In Full Effect – Now!

It’s Labor Day weekend. Your  best friend’s hosting the swankiest end-of-summer party and all your  beautiful friends are there.  You hit the martini bar a couple of times,  maybe have a beer or two toward the end of the night because you know you need to drive in a couple of hours… It’s  now after midnight. You have an early work meeting in the morning so you bid your good nights. You go to grab your keys  in your pocket but hey, they’re not there. Oh, that’s right -other pocket. Hmm, maybe you left them on the kitchen table…  Hello? Wake up!  If you do end up finding them, don’t even think about using those keys to drive a car. 

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), GHSA and local law enforcement are joining forces across the nation this year to take part in the campaign called Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest. 

But they aren’t waiting for Labor Day. There are currently Read more »

Yesterday I wrote about what to expect if you become a California bail bondsman. If you got through that and you’re back for more, you’re ready for the steps in obtaining your bail license. Now that I completed my pre-licensing class, I’m the expert here (ha ha)!

So, without further fan fare, here are the necessary steps to becoming a licenced bail bondsman in California:

1. You must have lived in California for least 2 years and be prepared to provide proof.
2. You must be 18 years old or older.
3. You need a clean record. Kind of an obvious one since you are working within the legal system, but many people don’t realize that to be a bail bondsman, you must have no felony convictions on your record. (Unlike the NFL which employs many people without clean records.) Read more »

I am not a Dog the Bounty Hunter fan, per se. However, when people first find out that I’m a bail bondsman the question of “Dog” inevitably comes up. So, I follow Duane Chapman, aka “The Dog”, to some limited extent.

I recently ran across an article where I learned something new about Chapman - a Tony Robbins influence:

Chapman also said that, besides religion, “my changing point was Anthony Robbins.”

When they first met, he says, Robbins said to him: “You’re the greatest challenge of my life.” They embarked on a partnership Read more »

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 »

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 »

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 »