Brown’s lawsuit was filed last wek. A&E, Hybrid Films and D&D Television are all named in the lawsuit, in which Brown claims he was only paid $6,000 for the contributions he made to the show. He is seeking over $75,000 in damages, according to court documents.

The court records show that Brown took part in more than 40 episodes, which he claims helped to lay the foundation for the series. It is also stated that Brown was not paid for each Colorado episode.

The series has earned over $400 million, gross, according to court documents. It is Brown’s belief that he deserves a portion of the show’s revenue since he is one of the stars.

In his lawsuit, Brown claims that Duane “Dog” Chapman ensured Brown that he would become a “full-time member” of the reality show and be compensated on the same level as Chapman and his wife, Beth. The show films in both Colorado and Hawaii.

When the contract never materialized, Brown left the show in 2009.

The lawsuit against A&E is because Brown believes the network and show creators used his likeness in order to increase their financial gain and failed to compensate him. He says that false promises were made, causing him to lose focus on his own bail bonds business when he was concentrating on the show.

Brown and “Dog” have been friends for over 30 years.

With some bail agencies being lax in their rules, more offenders are finding it easier to be released. Last January, a Connecticut man was arrested for the second time in four months on domestic violence charges. He was able to post a no-money down, $25,000 bail bond through a bail agent. After he was released, he returned home several hours, later where law enforcement says he shot and killed his wife then killed himself.

Another incident in Lakewood, WA occurred when a man fatally shot four local police officers. Reportedly, he had been released less than a week prior when he posted bail through a bail bondsman who charged fees much below those set by law.

Both states were prompted by these violent acts to begin imposing stricter regulations on bail bonds.

In 2010, tougher regulations for the bail bonds industry were passed in 26 states. Of those, seven of them also placed added restrictions on the release of offenders charged with sex offenses and violent crimes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In some states, like Connecticut, there has been concern about putting more regulations on the bail bonds industry. Some lawmakers fear that many of the poor and working-class people will not be able to post bail if there are minimum bond fees in place.

Connecticut state senator Eric Coleman has said, “Sometimes people are being unnecessarily held because they just can’t afford to post the amount of the bond the judge sets or they can’t afford to pay a bondsman.” Sen. Coleman has opposed bail bond legislation in the past.

Connecticut defense attorney Michael Georgetti has said that making tougher bail bond laws is not easy. “There has to be some delicate balancing between several interests- treating people among different economic levels equally, making sure our jails don’t become overcrowded because people cannot make bond and making sure the laws on the books against undercutting are enforced fairly,” Georgetti said.

It’s called “Pretrial Services” and it allows defendants to be released before their court hearing without bail. Commercial bail bondsmen want to limit this. Bondsmen point out that release on “Own Recognizance” is only supposed to be used by defendants who can’t afford their own bail, but that inmates with means seems are being offered the service – at a cost to the tax payers. Tax dollars should not be used to bail out those who have the means to pay nor should the state compete with private business.

But pretrial services supporters feel someone’s ability to pay a bail amount shouldn’t be considered for released at all. They claim these services save local governments money because it’s cheaper to let defendants go than to maintain them in overcrowded prisons – wrong. When a defendant is released without bail there is no guarantor to make sure the defendant appears in court. Reference my previous post siting the specifics problems of release without bail in Philadelphia.

Virginia is now considering a bill to codify what most states put into law decades ago: “Pretrial Release” (“PR” or Release on Own Recognizance ,”OR,” as it’s called in California) is for the “indegent” – those who cannot afford bail.

Pretrial services proponents counter that not passing the bill would remove options for judges and divide defendants into two classes based on money. “We have a lot of concern about people being denied freedom just based on their ability to pay,” said Pat Smith, director of a pretrial agency in Charlottesville.

Currently, if a person can’t afford his bail bond amount – for they are required to pay the amount in its entirety, they have the opportunity to contract with a bail bondsman, who is legally allowed to post the bond for a 10 percent nonrefundable fee. As a safety net, bondsmen require someone — usually a family member or friend — to co-sign for the defendant and be liable if he doesn’t make his court dates.

But with pretrial services, defendants who pay nothing also have nothing to lose by skipping court. In the end, it will cost authorities far more if they have to go on a manhunt to retrieve these skippers.

Pretrial services should be reserved for the indigent, rather than the already strapped taxpayers.

As bondsmen, we’ve already been fighting a singular economic battle for some time, because we can’t compete based on price — we’re regulated by the Department of Insurance and are rates are set with them. In addition, our customers may not be very particular:  They often just want to deal with whoever can help them the fastest.

It used to be that good, honest service was the benchmark of a successful bail bond business.  Call me old fashioned, but I still believe this to be true and I really get steamed when I find myself up against bondsmen who break the law to earn a buck – and who then use bad economic times as their excuse.  So I’d like to dispel the belief that their practices have anything to do with a lousy economy.  I want to do this because I am extremely concerned about a growing trend that threatens to tear apart our industry…

Let’s take the example of a defendant who has been arrested. While his information is being entered into various jail computer databases during booking, unscrupulous bail bondsmen actually “hack” into these databases to get his name.  Sometimes, this happens within minutes of a booking.  Once these hackers have illegally got the defendant’s name, jail location and DOB, they start to gather information about friends and family – anyone whose emotions this bail bond blood sucker can potentially manipulate to his advantage.  Then they cold call these people for the purposes of negotiating bail. It’s bad enough that the defendant committed a crime; it’s even worse when he is being exploited by another who will get away, Scott free, with breaking the law.

Never before have we faced a period in our society, where our right to privacy has been invaded and compromised with such alarming frequency.  Now even those loosely connected to the defendant like current or former bosses, ex-spouses or estranged family members can get wind about an arrest in this callous manner.  Besides the obvious embarrassment, work and personal relationships could be irrevocably damaged.  I continue to ask myself:  In what way, shape, or form could a bad economy possibly have influenced this?

In some cases, corrupt bail bondsmen even had the stones to illegally visit a defendant in jail (usually within 1-2 hours of the arrest). They are masters of knowing just what buttons they can push when negotiating bail with a stressed, frightened or angry defendant.  They will mine him for all his important contact phone numbers and make it seem like it was his idea to give them out.  They also sweeten the deal by offering illegal, low bail premium rates. This practice not only undercuts the normal market forces, it puts both the defendant, who is already in trouble, and his innocent connections, in danger of breaking the law.

In California, where more bail bond business is conducted than any other state in the nation, the scenes I’ve described to you are happening on a massive scale.  I often end up scratching my head in bewilderment:  Who is actually letting these thieves inside the jails? Are certain officers being bribed?  Are there inmates who get a cut from the scammer bail agent’s take if they intimidate other arrestees into signing with a particular bail bond service?  And just how are they gaining computer access to booking information, mere minutes after the defendant has been booked, anyway?

I have been told by many clients that they were called by a bondsman who wasn’t contacted by anyone in their family, nor by friends or the defendant. When the client asked the caller where he got their contact information, they were almost always told: online.

Here is the only economic-related news for you:  These unscrupulous bondsmen must be engaged in an operation that involves, at minimum, hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance premiums per day.  In my opinion, it won’t be long until legitimate retail bail companies, undercut and hurt by these illegal tactics, go the way of the dinosaur. Taking their place will be a large network of criminal computer hackers and illegal solicitors that can ultimately crack every database in California.  Our reputation will be utterly ruined, and the negative Bail Agent stereotype of a shady parasite that is perceived to be one step below the criminal he claims to help, will be reinforced.

One of my readers reminded me of another scam going on that also deserves some attention:  lawyer referrals and kickbacks – a practice that violates both state and federal law. This practice is also known as capping.  It’s when bail bond agents who have been illegally referred to defendants by their attorneys make “cold calls” on inmates. The agents deposit money in the lawyer’s accounts in return for these referrals – or they give money to the inmates’ families or act as a conduit for free long-distance telephone calls.

A popular myth says when the economy goes down, crime goes up.  And when crime rises, bail bond bondsmen grow rich.  But this is not true.  Remember, we too, are sellers of what some might deem to be a luxury item. Families experience a lot of stress when a loved one is in jail. It’s a trying, emotional time; and this leaves them vulnerable to a number of bail bond scams. If a bail agent doesn’t follow the law, whether economic times are good or bad, how can you trust them to treat clients fairly in the end?

Williams said Philadelphia defendants defeat the system by failing to show up for court, wearing down witnesses and causing cases to collapse in large numbers. So far, Philadelphia has let almost 47,000 fugitives escape. Between 2007 and 2008 over 19,000 defendants have failed to show up for at least one hearing.  This means one out of every three defendants, making it the nation’s highest tally for failure-to-appear.

Philadelphia courts took over the bail bond process about 40 years ago, citing widespread corruption within the bail bond industry as their reason. Under the city’s bail system, defendants pay 10 percent of their bail up front to the court, with the other 90 percent due if they skip their court dates. But the city has never backed up the consequences for skipping by collecting that money.  Now fugitives owe Philly a grand total of $1 billion in forfeited bail.

Contrast this to private bail such as the system in California. Bail agents underwrite bonds to the court and the defendant, or a representative of the defendant, pays 10% to the bondsman. If the defendant doesn’t show up for court, the bondsman brings the individual back to court or pays the court the full bail amount. The bondsman clearly has significant financial insentive to make sure the defendant appears in court. The private system works and costs the public nothing. The forfeiture rate utilizing the private bail system is less that 2%.

Dennis A. Bartlett, executive director of the American Bail Coalition, believes Philadelphia could solve its problems by ‘ditching’ government-run bail. He says private companies have a far better track record of getting defendants into court, which are findings that both academic and federal research reports support.

DA Williams and other witnesses said it was past time for the city to revamp this system.  U.S. Senator Arlen Spector (D – PA), who launched the hearing, agrees. Besides describing the broken bail system and high fugitive count, there has also been widespread cases witness intimidation.  Pennsylvania has the nation’s worst felony-conviction rate, with defendants going free in nearly two-thirds of all criminal cases.

U.S. Rep Joe Sestak (D – PA), who is Specter’s opponent in the Democratic primary, called for a nationwide study on how to reform bail. Under his proposal, Philadelphia might be selected as a place to test the best new approaches. Specter, however, feels that private bail companies are the answer.

We have to agree: the private bail system has a long-standing record that is second to none. It works.

A 61-year-old Georgia man named Roger Stephens was held without bail yesterday for slapping a two-year old child at Walmart. Stephens was upset that the child was crying. He warned the mother, Sonya Matthews, that he would “shut that baby up” if Matthews couldn’t stop her daughter’s cries by herself.

When the child continued to cry, Stephens followed through on his threat. He slapped the 2-year-old Paige Matthews “across the face approximately four or five times,” according to the Gwinnett County Police Department report. Of course, the child screamed and cried even more after being assaulted, but Stephens said to the mother, “See, I told you I would shut her up.” He was arrested for felony cruelty to children and held without bond at the Gwinnett County Detention Center.

Ok, so as a parent and a member of society: What? Was this guy stoned or just stupid?! I cannot imagine any person repeatedly slapping a small child.

(As the mother of a former crying two year old: that was such a hard situation out in public with an inconsolable child, just trying to get through it without stares and comments…)

Now, as a bail bondsman, I fear that call from this guys’ relatives who say, “There must be a mistake. My brother would never behave that way…” You get the picture; yup, it comes with the territory. Then, spending 30 minutes or more explaining why there’s no bail.

Ok, really pushing my buttons: I hate Walmart. (It’s my mother’s favorite store, BTW.) Not that there’s anything innately wrong with Walmart, but I’d rather eat a bug than even have to navigate the parking lot. Then you get inside to cranky old people and cranky two year olds.

But still, will this guy have a psych eval?

Photocredit: © Mehmet Dilsiz – Fotolia.com

(Assumedly, you already know how bail bonds work, so I’ll skip those details.) In order to survive as a bail bondsman, be prepared to be on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Any good bail bondsman or company will tell you, the entire livelihood of the company is generated from the 10% premium of the bail that is written. If you are not willing to take calls on Saturday morning at 3:00am, you probably won’t be in business for very long.

Additionally, doing all the necessary technical steps to becoming a bail bondsman are very straight forward, but becoming a bail expert is not. As a bondsman, you must use judgement and tolerate risk well. A bondsman is personally responsible for the liability of the full amount of every bond written. Although a bondsman is underwritten by an insurance company, as Greg points out in “What Makes A Bail Bond Different” the liability first falls to the bondsman. If you don’t have good judgement, you’ll be bankrupt in no time. Ready to take on hundreds of thousands in liablity?

So, if you don’t mind night owl shifts, birthday, Christmas and Valentine’s Day interruptions (and your friends and family understand this), and you have excellent judgement and a strong backbone for risk, you may be a good candidate to become a California bail bondsman.

Tune in tomorrow for recommended steps and qualifications in becoming a licensed bondsman. Now, I’m off to take my bail pre-licensing class…

Segars had been out on $100,000 bail bond. While out on bail, the bondsman guarantees to the court that the defendant will show up in court. In this case, Segars did show up for court and plead guilty to first degree burglary, financial elder abuse and diversion of construction funds. He did not, however, show up for sentancing on June 24.

When a defendant doesn’t show up for court – called “failure to appear,” the bondsman has six months to rectify the situation either by getting the defendant into court or into custody. Otherwise, the court would demand payment of the full bail amount from the bondsman. Clearly, the bondsman has significant incentive to bring in his man.

When a bondsman brings back a “skip” he’s doing his job, which keeds the public safer. The bail system works well and costs the public nothing.

Look around the bail industry and you will find an inordinate number of families in business together. Usually when we think of family business, we assume trust. Unfortunately, a family in Virginia decided to take their family bail business in a completely different direction and bring us our latest reported incidence of bail scams.

In Abingdon, VA, local magistrate, “Tiny” Mullin, was released from his job after using a coworkers electronic signature to set bail for clients of his father, J.C. Mullins, a local bail bondsman from an Abingdon bail bond company.

Because bail bond fees are determined by the bail amount, the magistrate was in determining his father’s income. The young Mr. Mullins had been specifically told by his supervisor that he was not allowed to set bail for his father’s clients and had signed an agreement of understanding.

The scheme was uncovered by a Bristol Harald Courier reporter who compared the public records of the bonding companies affiliated with a defendant’s release with the timesheets for public employees. They were able to determine that Mullins was working when the coworkers digital signature was used.

This isn’t the first incidence of bail scams using computers that we have reviewed. In California, numerous warnings float around the bail industry of computer hacking to illegally transact bail. Hats off to reporter Michael Owens who did the leg work on this one. Hopefully, someone around here will tip off the right reporter with enough to make a difference and put a few bad apples out of business.

Photocredit © treenabeena- Fotolia.com

I know most people have never had first hand experience with bail bonds. Apparently, the common school of thought is that crime goes up in an economic down-turn.

Last December, I took a call from Tony Castro at the Los Angeles Daily News. He asked several questions about the economy and bail bonds. Mr. Castro subsequently wrote an article about Van Nuys bail bondsmen “bailing out”. I spoke with Mr. Castro a fair amount of time and even though he quoted me on a couple of points, there were several issues I discussed that were left out. Since then, I keep feeling there’s so much more to be said. So, today I’ve written a follow-up article about bail, crime  and the economy. In this article, I’ve attempted to answer:

1. Is the bail industry recession-proof?
2. As the economy sinks, is crime rising?
3. Are foreclosures and layoffs driving people to a life of crime?
4. How bad is it?
5. Is it getting better?

Photocredit: ©  Norman Chan- Fotolia.com