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.

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