Bail Bondsmen Have a Dangerous Job

Bail bondsman David Dunn said he was a split second from kicking in an apartment door when his partner yelled.

"She's got a gun,” Carol Franklin said.

The woman inside the apartment turned and aimed at Franklin.

Franklin, who stood outside a window looking into the apartment, threw herself to the ground. Halfway down, she heard the gun's bang, she said. The rifle blast missed.

The bail bondsmen were at the Yukon apartment to detain Vicki Sanders, 45, who had skipped an Oklahoma County District Court appearance. Sanders had a signed bond through Abraham's Bail Bonds in Oklahoma City.

Sanders was shot and killed Monday night by Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers after a nearly six-hour standoff.

Dangers of bounty hunting
The danger of the job is nothing new to Dunn, but the reality of how close he came to losing his life hit hard as he went home Monday night, he said.

"You can try and avoid death ... and I've had near misses,” Dunn said. "But to have one like that, it's nothing but good luck and the grace of God. It really does make you stop and think about everything you do out there.”

Grace of God and the help of a good friend such as Carol Franklin, Dunn said.

"The thing that scared me the most was when I looked through the window knowing that my partner was about to kick the door in and she's sitting there aiming a rifle at the door,” Franklin said. "At that point my fear wasn't for myself, my fear was that I was about to lose my partner if I didn't do something quick.”

Franklin said she normally doesn't go to the back window or door. She's usually the one kicking in the door. Had she not been at that window, Dunn likely would have been killed, she said.

Bail jumper
Sanders' mother, Patsy McFadden had co-signed the bond, Dunn said.

Although not needed lawfully to enter a residence where a known bail jumper lives, Dunn and Franklin obtained written permission from McFadden to kick the door in, Dunn said.

McFadden, who told the two bondsmen that Sanders was bipolar and off her medication, said there were no weapons in the home, Dunn said.

They first tried a ruse.

"Carol knocked on the door, said some kids were throwing rocks at Sanders' car,” Dunn said. "That didn't work. She wouldn't answer the door.”

Franklin walked around to the side of the downstairs apartment to a window that was open about 8 inches with the blinds pulled down, she said.

She peered in through the window and saw the armed woman on the couch. She yelled to David, and the woman spun and fired, Franklin said.

Franklin said and she and Dunn called Yukon police.

A short time later, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol arrived with its tactical team.

The two bondsmen watched from nearby as troopers sent in a robot, then fired tear gas and flash bangs.

Franklin said she thought the armed woman may have shot the robot. There was a hail of gunfire and the ordeal was over.

"It's sad because she may have been ill,” she said. "But she wasn't going to go to court, and she wasn't going to come out of the apartment.”

Colorado Bondman’s Website to Help Bail Professionals

A Denver bondsman and bounty hunter has a new way to track down fugitives. Ben Mares started a website called rewards4fugitives.com.

He said, "the website itself is just a posting avenue for bondsmen to put their people up there. the public can see who's wanted and can contact that bondsman."

Rewards range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, paid by the bondsmen.

They say if they turn fugitives into the court, they save money. And bondsmen say this website is already working. John Trujillo had a fugitive featured and within 24 hours, he had several tips.

He said, "you could knock me over with a feather. I was surprised. I didn't think I would get so many tips within a 24 hour period."

Bond Grrrl: Utah’s Reata Holt Could be TV’s Next Bounty Hunter

When you hear the knock at the door and through the peephole see a tall, friendly looking woman with light-brown, shoulder-length hair and gold hoop earrings, think twice about opening—that is, if you have any outstanding warrants.

The woman could be Reata Holt, Utah bounty hunter. Then again, Holt’s agents, with Tasers at the ready, would already have surrounded your home by the time she knocked.

Bondsmen Lament New Jail Policy on Misdemeanors

Local bondsmen say the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center's new policy to not accept most misdemeanor offenders is bad for business. At least one is considering layoffs.

"The phones aren't ringing and the people aren't coming in," Mac Guedry, president of Cajun Bail Bonds, said. Misdemeanors accounted for more than 60 percent of his business, and he doesn't know how he'll keep paying his 12 employees if business doesn't pick up.

Bail Agent: 'Rambo Wannabes' Hurt Image

Bounty hunters in Michigan are not licensed by the state, but some carry badges similar to police badges and, sometimes, loaded weapons.

And they don't need a search warrant to enter a residence to catch a bail jumper.

That's because when a bonding agency posts bail for someone charged with a crime, the defendant signs a document essentially waiving their constitutional rights, local bounty hunter Shaun Lewis said.

Muncie Bail Bondsman Tries To Halt Bail Skipping

Skipping out on bail is a big no-no. A local bail bond spot is doing all it can to stop the rise in felons jumping ship.

The statistics are staggering across the nation, according to the US department of Justice. Nearly one fourth of all defendants on bail fail to appear in court when they're supposed to. The owner of Bad Boys Bail Bonds in Muncie, Jeff Catron, says that it's simply bad business to let felons skip.

“We simply can’t afford it,” he said.

Catron, a bounty hunter, himself, added that building an information file on a criminal is the best way to keep those who break the law in check.

“Big files always help you keep track of criminals.”

Catron said his bail bond agency tries to live up to their slogan each day--that being, "Your freedom is our business."

The agency offers free bond advice in jails across east central Indiana.

Bail Bondsman Says Relationships And Location Are Secrets To Success

In a previous career, Frank Kopczynski was a hospital administrator who helped failing hospitals get on their feet. But 20 years ago, he found himself at a professional crossroads.

After his contract with a New Jersey hospital expired, he was faced with either relocating with his employer to northern Michigan or returning home to Florida. He chose the latter, and spurred by a casual suggestion by his daughter's boss, decided to take a chance on the bail bond industry.

Fortunately, the business know-how, marketing tactics and people skills he developed during his time in health care made the transition much smoother than he had imagined.

After passing the required two-week course and receiving his license, Kopczynski opened Action Plus Bail Bonds in April 1988. Soon after, he acquired some industry training at St. Petersburg College and fell in love with the trade.

Billboards On The Way To County Prison Show The Competitive Side Of Bail Industry

Bail USA Inc. wants you. If you can't post bond to get out of jail, that is.

Anyone traveling East King Street can read all about it, thanks to an advertisement prominently displayed on the side of a building two blocks away from the prison, at North Plum.

The positioning of the sign is deliberate, said Cheryl Burns, the president of Bail USA, Greenville, Mercer County.

The Lancaster County population is rising. The prison is jammed.

The bail-bond field also appears to be growing, according to Vincent Guarini, the prison warden.

"It's competitive," Guarini said. Inmates' families put up the bond money in most cases, he added. But if someone can't make bail "they can shop around."

A courthouse directory lists 23 company-affiliated bail bondsmen and seven bail surety services, several with distant headquarters in cities such as Baltimore, Md., Houston, Texas, and St. Petersburg, Fla.

To make matters more competitive, the Bail USA Web site says, judges are trying to combat prison overcrowding by setting "easy" 10 percent bail.

And so the word is going out.

"We're just doing a little more advertising in the Lancaster County area," Burns said. "We put up billboards in Allegheny County and Pittsburgh about a year ago and we found it's a good way to get our name recognized."

The reaching out is recent. But Bail USA is a national company founded in 1982 and operating in 42 states through independent contractors.

The Lancaster County Clerk of Courts office lists three agents with Bail USA's affiliate, the Seneca Insurance Company Inc., also of Greenville.

One of the agents is a Mifflintown man who Burns said worked for Bail USA for 20 years. The other agents live in Quarryville and Lancaster, according to the courthouse directory.

While many companies handle bonds for business transactions, Burns said, Bail USA focuses solely on bail surety underwriting.

"It's a service we provide that brings down the prison population."

The state regulates all bail bondsmen, Guarini said.

"It's not like 'Dog the Bounty Hunter,' " he added, referring to the tumultuous TV reality show.

"They're pretty selective about who they take," Guarini said. Companies get back the money they've posted plus a service charge when their clients show up for trial.

"They play the risks. If the guy takes off, they lose the bond."

Bondsmen, Houston City, Frustrated with Maximus

City officials, at their wit's end with the company they hired to turn municipal courts into an electronic operation, this week threatened to sue unless the company fixes problems with the $10 million system.

Aside from causing headaches for city officials overseeing the transition, the flawed system has resulted in longer waits for the thousands of residents, lawyers and bail bondsmen who navigate the courts each day, and frustration for those who work there.

The city is giving Maximus Inc. until Thursday to provide a plan for making its work meet expectations.

"We said, 'It's really up to you Maximus. You tell us how you're going to keep Houston as a long-term client, how you're going to satisfy all your requirements, or we're going to declare you in default," said Richard Lewis, the city's director of information technology.

Repeated calls to Maximus for comment this week were not returned. In the past, spokeswoman Rachael Rowland has said the company was working to fix system bugs.

The computer upgrade, a goal of city officials since the late '90s, was supposed to be completed within a year and a half after the City Council approved the contract in April 2003. More than four years later, it still is not working properly.

"The computer system slows the operation down and kind of makes it unpleasant" to work there, said traffic lawyer Lawrence Rousseau. Since the system went live in April 2006, he has nicknamed municipal courts "the tar pit" because it is easy to get stuck there all day.

While some administrative tasks have been simplified with the transition to electronic from paper, the system is cumbersome and slow. It often takes longer than it should to complete simple tasks, such as processing bonds and setting cases for trial.

To process a bond, for example, clerks must work their way through 19 computer screens, and it takes 7-10 seconds for each new screen to appear, Lewis said. Loading a docket, a common task for judges, can take up to 10 minutes, he said.

"We believed the system was going to make our jobs simpler and in some cases it has made our job more complex," Presiding Judge Berta Mejia said.

'Enough already'
Because the city has warned Maximus before that its work has not met expectations, some city officials do not think they should get another chance.

"Enough already," said Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck. "This does not meet the basic terms of the contract, we've got taxpayer money on the line and it's time to cut our losses and move on."

Lewis said it is in the city's best interest to be patient. "But it's not going to last very much longer," he said.

The company, based in Reston, Va., is one of the largest providers of outsourced government services software, said Charles Strauzer, an analyst with CJS Securities, who covers those companies. The systems business is a small portion of Maximus' workload, he said, adding that it has not been profitable the past few years.

Group suggested changes
Since the city is unsatisfied with Maximus' work, officials hired an independent group, The Mitre Corp., a nonprofit organization that helps governments use information technology systems, to assess the project this summer. Mitre found that Maximus met most of the functional requirements defined in the contract, but did not meet technical requirements, which are essential for user reliability. In other words, the system is not capable of dealing with the 2.1 million cases the court sees each year.

The group recommended that Maximus replace its technical software and create a separate system for parking citations to reduce the load. Lewis said the company is considering those suggestions.

"They (Maximus) have been saying the right things, and they've deployed a bunch more resources down here in the last six months," Lewis said. "Whether or not that's enough is another whole matter."

School Boards Want Less Relief for Forfeited Jail Bonds

Fines and forfeitures of jail bonds account for more than $60 million in school funding across the state. But collecting that money was not always such a high priority.

In the criminal case of James Marvin Johnson, for example, his brother, Donald Johnson, put up his home and Lillington business, C&J Auto, to cover the $225,000 bond.

James Marvin Johnson remains on the run after skipping out on bond in the 1999 rape of a 12-year-old girl. By law, Donald Johnson was supposed to pay the full amount when his brother bolted.

A well-known businessman, Johnson pleaded with the court and school board for relief, saying he spent about $50,000 to track down his brother.

Court records show Johnson eventually paid $10,000 of the $225,000. He said he feels like he got off easy.

"They could have took everything I had. My business and all," he said.

Johnson's gain was the schools' loss. In 2006, Harnett County took in more than $549,663 from fines and forfeitures, while Wake County raked in close to $6 million. So far in 2007, Johnston County has gained approximately $600,000 from bail bonds.

Johnston County Board of Education attorney Jim Lawrence said school systems are working harder than ever to collect.

"That's $600,000 for classrooms. ... And why not follow them up and get whatever money we can?" he said.

Durham bondsman Tony Woods, president of the North Carolina Bail Agents Association, said a change in the law makes it much tougher now to get relief on forfeited bonds.

Still, Woods believes that many courts treat family and friends with far more leniency.

"The layperson is not held to the standard of the bail bondsman when it comes time to pay," Woods said. "No, that's not (fair)."

There have been signs that courts are toughening up on those kinds of forfeitures. Harnett County School Board Attorney Duncan McCormick, who approved the reduction in the Johnson bond, said he probably would not have allowed it today.

As for himself, Donald Johnson said he has learned his lesson about ponying up for bonds.

"I will never sign a bond again as long as I live," he said. "If you run, you're guilty. ... The Bible says to forgive, but I never forget."

Police Shoot Gunman in City Hostage Standoff

A gunman who held his girlfriend hostage for more than five hours Tuesday in a Lansing motel room was shot and injured after police stormed the room.

The gunman, who police did not identify, was taken to a local hospital with unknown injuries. The woman, who police also did not identify, was not injured.

At about 2 p.m., a bounty hunter, who was looking for another woman, knocked on the door of the ground-floor room at the Super 8 Motel off South Cedar Street, but was not allowed in, said Janelle Hathaway, 22, of Lansing, who identified herself as the bounty hunter's sister. He then walked around to an outside window and saw the man with a gun, she said.

Muncie Bail Bondsman Fights Skipping

Skipping out on bail is a big no-no. A local bail bond spot is doing all it can to stop the rise in felons jumping ship.

The statistics are staggering across the nation, according to the US department of Justice. Nearly one fourth of all defendants on bail fail to appear in court when they're supposed to. The owner of Bad Boys Bail Bonds in Muncie, Jeff Catron, says that it's simply bad business to let felons skip.

“We simply can’t afford it,” he said.

Catron, a bounty hunter, himself, added that building an information file on a criminal is the best way to keep those who break the law in check.

MU Bail Bonds Gets Students Out

It’s 3 a.m. on a Saturday morning, and MU junior Josh Kayser is expecting to receive calls from people he’s never met.

Kayser is the sole owner and agent of MU Bail Bonds, a business he said can be stressful but is “pretty interesting.”