Keep Bailing

An Orange County bail bondsman was arrested Thursday on suspicion of conducting illegal business activities by a proposed referrals to attorneys and soliciting business via postcards to inmates. Under California Law, bail bondsmen are prohibited from referring clients to attorneys as well as soliciting bail bond clients. Potential clients must contact the bondsman requesting service.

The defendant, Ronald Lee Brockway is being charged with two felonies for violating regulations of bail licensing. Brockway, if convicted, will lose his bail license and serve time in a state prison for a maximum sentence of three years and eight months.

According to a news release, Brockman Read more »

Being drunk and driving is never a good thing. But being drunk and driving your Mercedes directly through the gates of a jail, well that’s down right ridiculous.

Calling on one, Matthew Van McDaniel. This young man from Los Alamitos actually did such a thing. On January 10th, he lost control and crashed his S550 directly through the gates of the James Musick Correctional Facility in Irvine. When a deputy there tried to restrain him, he actually punched the man breaking his nose.

Jim Armormino, a Sheriff’s spokesperson claimed it was “the first time somebody tried to break into the jail.”

Now, Mr. McDaniel Read more »

Matthew Fleuret received a $750,000 settlement from Orange County after allegedly being tasered 11 times at the Orange County Jail.  The incident was caught on video showing him being held to the floor while deputies repeatedly shock him for about 13 minutes.

Since that incident, Assistant Sheriff Tim Board indicated that a lot has changed within the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the manner in which they use force.  This is being attributed to the newly appointed Sheriff Sandra Hutchens as the motivator reform with the OC Sheriff Department.

Board says Hutchens has already done a lot for the department.  She understands processes of accountability and risk management.  He went on to say that they are a completely different department since the 2006 Fleuret incident.

Orange County has had other Read more »

In an opinion published in the Orange County Register Thursday, Bill Hunt discusses the controversial decision by Sheriff Sandra Hutchens to offer criminals early release from jail.

The decision to “cite and release” inmates from Orange County jails has led to over 400 criminals being put back onto the streets without having to post bail or provide any further court guarantees. Many of the inmates who are released this way flee. This ‘unsafe practice’ has been put into action and instituted by the court in an effort to relieve jail overcrowding. However, it is said that the overcrowding issue no longer exists, as there are 1,400 open jail beds.

As a function of the criminal justice system, Read more »

As of this Tuesday, all inmates who are now booked into Orange County jails will have their immigration status checked via fingerprint identification. Prior to this, the inmates were screened by specially trained deputies upon arrival and those who were found to be foreign born had their immigration status checked even further.

Orange County jail officials will join 11 other California county jails such as Los Angeles, San Diego and Ventura which have already implemented procedures for checking the identification of inmates using a federal database to identify immigrants who land in their jails.

A national database, which Read more »

Reportedly, County Sheriff Stan Sniff received the go ahead from his Riverside County Board of Supervisors to hire guards and other staff to run several new cell blocks that were just added to the  Banning jail. The board gave the Sheriff’s Department $12.6 million to do so, after a unanimous vote. This means that 142 new jobs will be available in 2010-11, which is great news for some in a struggling economy.  An additional  $750,000 earmarked for hires was also received by Sniff. 

The Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility, aka “Banning Jail“, upgrades are expected to be finished next month, but until now Sheriff Sniff feared he would not have enough funds to hire these security and administrative personnel, thanks to a former $50 million county deficit.

Now, 45 sworn law enforcement personnel are Read more »

Everything you always wanted to know about Orange County’s Police

Television’s “The O.C.” and “Real Housewives” may have put Orange County California on the media map, but Orange County Police Departments have an interesting history that dates back to the Wild West.  The county can trace its beginnings back to 1887, when silver was discovered in the Santa Ana Mountains, attracting settlers. As people came to California in droves, seeking their fortunes or just to settle and build a new life, the California Legislator was overwhelmed by the influx of these new arrivals. 

And so, they decided to divide Los Angeles County into two back in 1899, creating Orange County as a separate political entity. The county is supposedly named after –what else — oranges, but since they already had a town named Orange here, the county may have been named for this city.  Like many other places in the west, law enforcement was conducted by sheriffs and marshals until the needs of these settlements grew too big for just a few good men to handle.  And so, OC law enforcement also expanded and grew into more sophisticated, full fledged Police Departments.

Orange County also happens to be the smallest county in Southern California. But despite its size, it has many police departments and they Read more »

At 2:05 on Sunday morning, a man who was allegedly drunk, drove his late model Mercedes through the front gate of an Irvine jail and then fought with a Sheriff’s Department sergeant who was on duty there, according to the Orange County Register.

Matthew Van McDaniel plowed into the James A. Musick Jail and got out of his car, which he left in gear, still running.  The car then hit a tree on the jail campus.

McDaniel, who makes his living as a dancer, managed to successfully pirouette away from the sergeant he attacked, but other deputies soon arrested him on the spot.

“It’s the first time Read more »

Thanks to the economic downturn, over 500 job seekers applied for civilian work in the Orange County jail system, forcing the OC Sheriff’s Department to cut off applications just 36 hours after opening them last month.

Sheriff’s officials were hoping to get enough people to sign up for the next class of correctional services assistants, said spokesman John McDonald, but the rate that they got them: “Surprised a lot of us here.” The class, which only has 50 seats, educates civilian employees in how to assist sworn personnel at the jails.

The pay scale Read more »

It’s called capping — and it’s occurring at the Orange County Jail with alarming frequency.  Capping is the practice of one inmate getting kickbacks from a shady bail bond company once he signs up fellow inmates to use their services.

Here’s how it works:  The inmate connected to the bail bond company offers to make three-way calls for other inmates willing to use their services.  Anyone who isn’t interested is intimidated until he changes his mind.  As reported by the Orange County Register, no less than eight witnesses, all of them arrestees at the jail, recently testified about this illegal practice to both the OC Sheriff’s department and the OC Bail Agents Association.

Each witness was interviewed by private investigator Bill Hunt, a former Sheriff’s Lieutenant currently running for Orange County Sheriff.  Hunt’s subsequent report alleges that some prisoners have bullied others regarding the company they should use for posting their bail.  Hunt also discovered that someone who had access to booking information was passing telephone numbers on to these same bail companies, who then in turn called the prisoners’ family members to pay up.

One woman, Read more »