I used to work with a bondsman named Jake. Years later, he was out looking for a defendant that failed to show up in court. He had traced the guy to a two-story motel in a nearby town. He and his partner jumped in his truck to go get the defendant. His partner later told me what happened: [Read more →]
A wife called us regarding her husband who was in jail for writing bad checks. His bail was set at $50,000. She called us with her husband on the line from jail. He didn’t have the cash to pay my fee but he explained that he had a check he needed to pick up from State Farm Insurance for a recent insurance settlement. The amount was $5,048.32, so he said he would sign the check over to me to cover my $5,000 fee. He and his wife did not own their home but they both had good jobs, so I felt that this was a good risk. The wife cosigned and I posted the bond. [Read more →]
VICIOUS CIRCLE
Bail bonds for domestic violence charges have always been easy to write. The case usually entails a husband and wife in an argument and the neighbors overhearing and calling the police. When the police show up at the house, someone will go to jail. Ever since the O.J. Simpson trial, law enforcement’s hands have been tied. If they go to a house on a domestic violence charge, they have to arrest someone, regardless of the situation. [Read more →]
My partner and I wrote a $10,000 bond for a suspended license charge. The defendant worked at a factory, earning $17 per hour, and he had a wife that worked and children in school. They had arrived legally from Mexico 10 years earlier and had lived in southern California since then. [Read more →]
They were our best clients ever – three brothers and two of their friends who were always in some sort of trouble. They would get into fights, have their driver’s licenses suspended, be arrested on minor drug charges, etc. Over the course of four years, we received calls just about every other week from someone in the group. They always kept their court dates, so we continued to post bail for them. [Read more →]
My partner and I bailed out a kid for drug possession. The bail amount was $15,000. He failed to appear and had a warrant for his arrest. I called the defendant’s house and he answered. He said he’d been busy with work and couldn’t get to court, but he promised to go to court the following week and to check in with me by phone afterward. [Read more →]
A woman posted bail for her boyfriend for three misdemeanor cases, all with small bonds. The defendant kept his court appearances and did everything he was supposed to do. Everything was fine until his girlfriend called one day. [Read more →]