Immigrants Face Jail or Deportation

He came to California from Afghanistan at age 12, a refugee of the Soviet-Afghan war and, he says, a victim of torture.

His family settled in Fremont, where he went to school, got a job, became thoroughly Americanized - and made one bad mistake. In 1997, when he was 22, he had sex with his 14-year-old girlfriend and served eight months in county jail.

But by 2003, he had put his life back together and opened up his own body shop. Believing his past was behind him, he applied for U.S. citizenship. He's been in a federal prison in Arizona ever since.

For more than four years, Obaidullah "Chito" Rahimi, 33, has languished behind bars, ordered deported because of that old conviction. He faces an agonizing choice:

Should he remain in an American prison and fight his case in court, in hopes that someday a judge will let him go home to his family and friends?

Or, to escape jail, should he agree to be deported to Afghanistan, a country where he doesn't know a soul, where he cannot read the language, and where he fears he will be targeted for kidnapping or murder because he's an American?

According to immigration experts, Rahimi's dilemma is an extreme example of the choice confronting more than 90,000 immigrants who face removal from the United States each year because they have been implicated in crimes.

Experts say a combination of tougher laws and improved technology for computer background checks has led to a surge in deportation orders for immigrants who commit crimes in the United States - even misdemeanors, as in Rahimi's case.

Once detained, many immigrants simply agree to be sent home to avoid jail, the experts say. Others who contest deportation have their cases heard relatively quickly or are freed on bail while cases are pending. But sometimes when an immigrant appeals a deportation order, he can spend years in jail while the case is litigated.

"I am absolutely outraged by this case," says Alameda County Supervisor Gail Steele, who has lobbied, unsuccessfully, to get relief for Rahimi since his family asked for her help last year.

"He paid for his crime," says Steele, whose district includes part of Fremont's big Afghan émigré community. "He has done nothing illegal (since then) except try to walk in and become a citizen. ... He does not belong in prison. He is not a terrorist."

In court, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorneys have portrayed Rahimi's case as open and shut. In the 1990s, Congress toughened immigration laws, adding many crimes to the list of deportable offenses. Because he was convicted of having sex with a minor, Rahimi has no right to remain in the United States, the government says - and no right to post bail while he appeals.

Government lawyers in Rahimi's case also have disputed his claim that he faces danger in Afghanistan, instead portraying the country as relatively peaceful and stable since U.S. forces overthrew the Taliban government seven years ago.

"Torture does not appear to be systematic throughout the country," Jerri Brewer, a lawyer for the Department of Homeland Security, said at a hearing in 2004.

But a recent U.S. State Department advisory says that Afghanistan is still racked with violence and disorder: American travelers there could face "kidnapping for ransom and death" at the hands of bandits, drug gangs, or al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents, the department warns.

During four years of appeals, Rahimi has managed to stave off deportation. But so far, no judge has granted him release from prison, even temporarily.

Nor does Rahimi's plight elicit any sympathy from the mother of the former girlfriend.

Informed of the case by The Chronicle, the woman, who asked not to be quoted by name, said Rahimi was now "getting what he deserved." She said she believed he had gotten off too easily when arrested in 1997.

"If it was your daughter, you'd feel the same," she said.

Rahimi was born in Kabul in 1974, five years before Soviet troops invaded. In court, Rahimi said his father joined the anti-Soviet resistance, and sometimes Russian soldiers and their Afghan allies came looking for him. Rahimi, oldest of six children, said he was beaten and tortured by Russians seeking to learn the father's whereabouts. He said his mother was abused as well.

"Both of us carry the scars of the torture on our bod(ies)," he told a judge in 2004. "I was stabbed by the knife on my leg, still there is big scars." He was no more than 9 years old at the time of the incident.

In 1984, the family fled to Pakistan. Three years later, they were admitted to the United States as refugees and settled in Fremont. Rahimi attended Chabot College in Hayward and worked as a school janitor and security guard. Some people presumed Rahimi was Latino, and he used a Latino-sounding nickname, "Chito."

In 1997, he began dating a student at Fremont's Washington High School. The 22-year-old Rahimi told her he was 18. The girl was 14, but told him she was 15, he later said. On March 3, 1997, court records show, Rahimi picked her up in his BMW during lunch hour, and they had sex in the car. Afterward, the girl told a friend's mother she had been raped.

Four days later, the girl went to the Fremont Police Department and phoned Rahimi.

While a detective secretly taped the call, Rahimi told the girl he loved her and said he had been calling her for days. It would "break my heart" if he couldn't see her anymore, he said.

"How come when I asked you, you didn't" stop? the girl said.

"You didn't tell me to stop," he replied. "I didn't force you or anything. I'm not going out with any other girls. I swear to God, you're the first girl I ever loved in all my life." He asked her not to tell her parents, saying he might have to go to jail.

The next day, he was arrested, and two months later, he pleaded guilty to a charge of having sex with a minor.

He was sentenced to one year in jail, with the promise that after he served his time the conviction would be reduced to a misdemeanor.

After eight months in jail, Rahimi was released on probation. At first, he didn't do well. In 2000, he tested positive for cocaine and was jailed for four more months.

Rahimi contends he settled down after that. He opened his body shop in Hayward, where he said he employed two younger brothers, and he helped care for his aging mother, who had begun suffering from mental illness.

Then Rahimi applied for U.S. citizenship, as had his parents and siblings before him. He expected no problems, but when he appeared for an interview on Dec. 19, 2003, immigration officers noticed his conviction in a computer database and arrested him.

Rahimi was imprisoned in Eloy, a small town 50 miles from Tucson where more than 1,500 immigration detainees are held.

At a series of hearings in 2004, Rahimi, serving as his own lawyer, challenged the deportation order, contending that "Afghanistan is not safe for me to go back and live." At one point, Immigration Judge Jeffrey Zlatow asked where else he wanted to go if his deportation were upheld. Rahimi chose Canada but admitted he had no ties to that country.

"Any other countries, sir?" the judge asked, according to a transcript.

"How about Iran, maybe?" Rahimi replied. Then he asked to speak.

"Give me the short version," the judge said. "I have other cases today."

"I would like to apologize for the crime that I have been convicted (of)," he said.

In the hearings, Rahimi briefly described the ordeal he said he endured as a boy - "Your honor, during the war with the Russians, I was tortured, interrogated, horsewhipped," he said - and offered to show the judge the knife scars on his leg. The judge didn't want to see them.

Rahimi said he didn't know anyone in Afghanistan, and couldn't read Farsi or speak it properly.

Despite the presence of U.S. forces, he argued that the country was still terribly dangerous, particularly for him. Afghans "would consider me as an American and as a non-Muslim," he said. In a land where "people are getting killed left and right," he said he could be attacked for political or religious motives - or kidnapped for ransom by somebody who presumed that, as an American, he had money.

Under questioning from a government lawyer, Rahimi acknowledged his crime but denied he had forced himself on the 14-year-old girl. He also argued he had turned his life around and asked for mercy. "I would appreciate the government of the United States to give me a chance to live in the best country in the world, which is USA," he said.

The judge ruled that Rahimi's conviction for having sex with an underage girl constituted both child abuse and sexual abuse of a minor - both deportable offenses. But he also wrote that in Afghanistan, Rahimi might well face persecution or violence. He granted Rahimi a form of relief called "withholding of removal," and barred the government from deporting him to Afghanistan. He ordered Rahimi sent to Iran instead.

But Rahimi, apparently, has no ties to Iran, either, and Iran has refused to issue him a travel document. Meanwhile, the U.S. government appealed the case, saying the judge had wrongly blocked Rahimi's deportation to Afghanistan. From prison, with the help of lawyers, Rahimi also appealed, arguing that his crime was not the sort of serious offense that justified deporting him. He also blamed the government for the years of delays in the case, and asked to be freed from prison while awaiting an outcome. Another hearing is set for October.

San Francisco immigration lawyer Sheila Quinlan, who reviewed the case for The Chronicle, said Rahimi's dilemma reflects the "absurd outcomes" that sometimes have resulted from Congress' toughening of the immigration laws.

"Misdemeanor convictions considered minor and fully dismissible under state law are considered on a par with murder, kidnapping and rape," she wrote in an e-mail. "This case is an example of this problem."

While in prison, Rahimi rarely sees his family, but they have worked hard on his behalf.

They wrote heartfelt letters to the immigration court, and collected more than 100 signatures on petitions pleading for his release. They persuaded Supervisor Steele to intervene.

In 2006, his father and his oldest sister went to Washington, D.C., to take part in a protest of tough immigration laws, according to a publication of San Francisco's Immigrant Legal Resources Center.

But the family declined to be interviewed about Rahimi, who now is in his 54th month in immigration prison. In a brief phone call, his sister said the family fears that publicity about the case might hurt his chances of going free.

Illegal Immigration Solution Suggests Bail Bonds, Electronic Tags

Illegal migrants awaiting deportation from Britain will be required to provide "large bail bonds" and wear electronic tags to avoid detention, under Home Office legislation unveiled yesterday.

Having to pay an unspecified financial security and cooperate with an electronic tracking system will make it far harder for the 2,300 people in immigration detention to secure immigration bail.

The draft immigration and citizenship bill also contains new powers to require expelled foreign nationals to repay the costs of deportation - between £11,000 and £13,000 on average - if they want to return to Britain once their ban is over.

The legislation, which is expected to go before parliament this autumn, will include powers to charge every migrant, including dependants, an extra £20 as their contribution to a £30m to £40m migration transition fund to pay for the extra burden on local services.

Ministers yesterday confirmed their intention to introduce a system of "earned citizenship" under which economic migrants will have to speak English and prove they can hold down a job paying taxes to qualify for citizenship.

Committing minor crimes or making no effort to integrate into British society will delay the time it takes to get a British passport.

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, said the draft legislation represented a sweeping overhaul of all immigration law dating back to 1971 because it would replace the 10 major acts of parliament covering immigration in the past 30 years with one simplified piece of legislation.

"We are making the biggest changes to our immigration system for a generation, and part of that is making sure those who stay in the UK make a positive impact on their local community," said Smith.

A simple notion of someone having permission to be in the country will replace the complex patchwork of legal concepts of leave to enter, leave to remain and entry clearance.

The legislation was published as a dossier of nearly 300 cases of alleged physical assault and racial abuse by private security guards carrying out immigration deportations was sent to the home secretary by a group including the former chief inspector of prisons Lord Ramsbotham.

Bond Set in Bizarre Missing Person’s Case

The 911 calls were released by the Orange County Sheriff’s office today when Cindy Anthony called to report her 3 year old granddaughter, Caylee Marie, missing. She appeared to be emotionless during the call. When she made the call she asked that deputies come and arrest her daughter for stealing money and a car according to the recordings.

“I have someone here who need be arrested and a possible missing child,” Cindy Anthony told a 911 dispatcher. “A three year old has been missing for a month.”

The first call was made around 8:45 pm, but less than an hour later she called 911 again and this time she was screaming and crying saying she found out that her granddaughter had been kidnapped by the babysitter. She told the dispatcher that she found her daughter’s car, a 1998 Pontiac Firebird. “There’s something wrong,” she told the 911 dispatcher. “I found my daughter’s car today and it smells like there’s been a dead body in the damn car.”

Later when talking to Eyewitness News Cindy Anthony said there was a bag of pizza in the car that had been there for 12 days and it was full of maggots. “It smelled like something had died in the car, I smelled it. I thought something had died in the car. I didn’t know what it was. It could have been a squirrel. It could have been anything. But when we opened the trunk and we saw the maggots in the trunk with all the pizza and stuff, it was a rancid smell, she said after the 911 calls were released on Thursday.

Casey Anthony, Cindy Anthony’s daughter took the phone and calmly told the dispatcher that he daughter has been missing for 31 days. The dispatcher asked what she didn’t report it until now. Her response was that she had been doing her own search for her daughter.

Casey was arrested after telling authorities a number of lies concerning her daughter’s disappearance. When detectives found a foul smell coming from her car it made them believe that it is possible that little Caylee is dead and they think her mother is involved in it somehow.

Casey Anthony is being held under a $500,000 bond, set by Judge Stan Strickland. Today her attorney Jose Baez has confirmed that after desperately trying to raise the 10% needed, $50,000, for a bondsman to get their daughter out of jail, they see that they can’t do it.

Baez has filed a writ of habeas corpus with the Orange County court on Thursday. He is asking that his client, Casey Anthony be released from prison, without bond, so she can help police look for her daughter.

I would say that sadly enough it doesn’t look like Caylee has a chance here but I keep hoping for a miracle and that she will be found alive and well.

Detective Details Confrontation with Detroit Mayor

DETROIT (AP) — A detective working a criminal case against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said coincidence led him to a house to try to deliver a subpoena.

Brian White wasn't prepared for what he said followed: a physical confrontation with the beefy mayor that involved a profanity-laced tirade by Kilpatrick and a possible hip fracture for the investigator.

After hearing the allegations Friday, a judge said Kilpatrick's behavior was "totally irrational." He changed the terms of the mayor's bond in the criminal case, ordering him to immediately post $7,500 and undergo random drug tests.

There is no suggestion that drugs played a role in Kilpatrick's behavior.

"I don't know what was going on in defendant Kilpatrick's life that he exploded, for want of a better term," Judge Ronald Giles said. "This is ridiculous."

The 38-year-old mayor and his former top aide, Christine Beatty, are charged with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice, all tied to their testimony in a civil trial last year. During the trial, they denied having a romantic relationship, but those claims are contradicted by text messages.

Kilpatrick declined comment as he walked out of court Friday. A bail bondsman assisted him in paying the $7,500, which represents 10 percent of his previous bond. The mayor hadn't been required to post any cash before the incident.

James Thomas, one of Kilpatrick's lawyers, said there was no pushing or shoving by the mayor. Another Kilpatrick attorney, Jim Parkman, argued there was a credibility problem because two investigators told different versions of the incident.

White, who works for the Wayne County sheriff's department, is a lead investigator in Kilpatrick's perjury case.

He testified at a hearing Friday that he and a colleague were delivering subpoenas for future court hearings a day earlier when he spotted a parked pickup truck with "Ferguson Construction" on the door. White believed it belonged to Bobby Ferguson, a Kilpatrick ally and possible witness who was to be subpoenaed.

White noticed the mayor's police bodyguards outside the house, which belongs to Kilpatrick's sister. He said he flashed his badge, got their OK to proceed and rang the doorbell.

White was told Ferguson wasn't there. Then the detective said he heard a loud voice inside the house.

"Don't tell those (expletive) anything," White quoted the mayor as saying. "I hear, `Get the (F-word) out of here.'"

Kilpatrick, a former college football lineman, "comes storming through the door ... grabs me and throws me into investigator Kinney," White said, referring to fellow investigator JoAnne Kinney.

"He continues to yell, `Get the (F-word) out of here, leave my family alone!' We composed ourselves and left the porch," White testified.

He said he had X-rays taken at a hospital and might have suffered a slight hip fracture.

Kinney, who is black, testified that the mayor criticized her for working with White, who is white.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," she quoted Kilpatrick as saying. "Why are you a part of this?"

Kinney said she had never met the mayor.

"We were just trying to find Bobby Ferguson," she testified. "I couldn't believe this was happening. ... He was irate, very mad, upset."

Michigan State Police are investigating the suspected assault for possible charges. After the hearing,

Thomas disputed that Kilpatrick used the F-word, but he declined to discuss it further. "We don't have to talk about the facts unless there's a charge," he said.

Under Kilpatrick's new bond conditions, personal travel outside Michigan is no longer permitted, nor can he travel on business outside the state without the court's approval. He can go on trips already approved by the court.

Earlier Friday, the judge postponed a ruling on whether to publicly release more of the text messages that led to the criminal charges against Kilpatrick and Beatty. The next hearing was set for Aug. 7.

Racecar Driver By Day, Bail Bondsman By Night

If you ever end up in the Grand Forks County clink and can’t make bail — and you don’t want to share a cell with a guy named T-bird — you’re likely to call Dobmeier Bonding.

And the bondsman who comes to spring you just might be Mark Dobmeier, a local race car driver who dominates the sprint class at River Cities Speedway.

When Dobmeier’s not racing or running his auto-repair shop, he moonlights as a bondsman for his dad’s company in Grand Forks.

Local Bailbondmen Find Fugitive Living in Camper

A Greene County man who had fled the state after failing to appear in General Sessions Court to face multiple charges in May was returned to Greene County on Thursday after being captured by a local bail bondsman in Michigan.

Kerry Emmett, of Express Bail Bonds, said he and two of his employees found Sammy W. Roark, 57, of 1294 Mt. Zion Road, living in a camper behind a detail shop in Port Huron, Mich., about 7:30 a.m. Thursday.

"It was about 7:30 p.m. when we got back to Greeneville," Emmett said. "It's a 660-mile drive one way."

Emmett said his firm had posted a $7,000 bond for Roark after he was arrested in March.

Macon Fugitive Apprehended by Bondsman

Macon County fugitive Robert Ellis Burdette Jr. was returned to custody after being located just outside of Greenville, SC last Thursday night.

Burdette, charged as a sexual offender, was wanted after failing to show up for his July 7 court appearance. Sheriff Robbie Holland said he was pleased the man was back in custody.

“During the initial interview and investigation with Mr. Burdette, he confessed to committing sex crimes against a child – that child being a two-year-old,” Holland said. “We definitely considered him as a threat to this community.

The sheriff requested the public’s help in locating Burdette, but by Thursday already suspected he might be located in Greenville.

“We had very little to do with the apprehension. It was the bondsman who found him and returned him to us,” Holland said.

Bail bondsman Doobie White apprehended Burdette later that night in Taylors, S.C. He was staying in a camper at the Flying Mill Campground, about two and a half hours from Franklin.

Bondsman Robbed at Gunpoint

A bail bond business was robbed at gunpoint Wednesday by two suspects who escaped capture, police said.

Two suspects entered the business in the 300 block of Texas Street, confronted the lone employee and two customers inside and ordered them to the ground, police said.

One suspect, armed with a silver semi-automatic firearm, demanded cash, police said. But when told there was no cash in the store, the suspects ordered the victims to hand over their personal cash, which they did, police said.

The suspects then ordered the employee to open the safe in the back of the store. When the employee told them he didn't know the combination, both suspects fled on foot eastbound, police said.

Officers responded and cordoned off the area between the railroad tracks and Taft Street. The suspects were spotted on the railroad right-of-way fleeing north, before they disappeared into a residential area, police said.

A California Highway Patrol helicopter responded before being called away on another emergency, police said.

Officers were unable to locate the suspects, though some good leads were developed during the incident, police said.

One suspect is described as a black male, 5 feet, 11 inches tall with a thin build, wearing a ski mask or something similar, a black hooded sweatshirt and gray shorts. The other is a black male 6 feet, 3 inches tall, medium build wearing black pants and black hooded sweatshirt. He was wearing a bandanna with eye cutouts or a ski mask, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Fairfield Police or CrimeStoppers.

Former Corporation Bigwig Has Trouble Finding Bondsman

The former head of the Ketchum Community Development Corporation remained incarcerated this morning in the Blaine County Jail, unable to raise the $150,000 bond he needs to get out of jail.

"The bond is so high that any bail bondsmen would need property for security," said Melissa Roemer, an agent for Hometown Bail Bonds in Hailey. "It's my understanding that the couple personally doesn't own any."

Fifty-year-old Gary Rapport, who resigned as executive director of the CDC on Tuesday and was arrested later that day on a California warrant alleging failure to appear on a 2002 felony burglary charge, was arraigned on a fugitive from justice charge Wednesday afternoon in Blaine County Magistrate Court.

Public defender Kevin Cassidy, who was appointed to represent Rapport, told the court that his client will fight extradition to Orange County.

Judge Mark Ingram scheduled an identity hearing for July 17 and said he will reconsider bond at that time.

Roemer and Rick Filkins, president of American Eagle Bail Bonds in Ketchum, attended Rapport's court hearing on Wednesday but neither was willing to put $150,000 at risk.

Rapport's wife Yanti Ibrahim was contacting bail bondsmen throughout the area this morning in an attempt to get her husband out of jail.

Rapport and Ibrahim, who is from Indonesia, have three children at home ages 3, 9 and 12. Rapport reported in his request for a public defender that the couple pays $1,475 rent per month at their home in Ketchum. He further reported that he made $30,000 last year and owes $9,000 in Bozeman, Mont., for heart surgery. Rapport was reportedly earning a six-digit salary as head of the CDC. He had served as full-time executive director of the organization since May.

Ketchum police have alleged that Rapport was aware of the California warrant prior to his arrest at his home on Tuesday evening.

In addition to the Orange County warrant, Rapport also faces a 2007 aggravated assault charge in Bozeman for allegedly strangling his wife until she lost consciousness. Rapport lived in Bozeman prior to moving to Ketchum.

Teenager to go From Probation to Bondsman?

A bonding company’s request to add as an agent a Kingsport teen recently placed on probation for theft went undecided Tuesday.

Allyn Hood of A-Hood Bonding Co. filed a petition in Sullivan County Circuit Court back in April asking Judge Robert Montgomery to grant Brandon Wayne Bentley the authority to act as an agent of his bonding company.

Montgomery frowned upon the idea of placing Bentley, 18, 2708 Bethel Lane, in charge of handling bond funds when he had just been placed on probation for misdemeanor theft from a previous employer.

According to court records, Bentley admitted to Target security personnel in January that he’d loaded gift cards with between $5 and $6 on at least five separate occasions.

Montgomery reset the case to about six months from now. He said by then it should be clear whether Bentley could be trusted to adhere to the conditions of his probation, which include not being charged with any new offenses.

As of Tuesday’s hearing, Montgomery noted that Bentley hadn’t even been on probation long enough to have a drug test.

According to court records, Bentley received a certificate of compliance May 30 from the Tennessee Association of Professional Bail Agents. His attorney asked Montgomery if it would “sway the court’s opinion” knowing that Bentley has a 17-month-old son to support. Earlier, Bentley told the court he’d quit his job as a waiter at a local restaurant on Sunday, apparently in expectation of receiving the court’s approval at Tuesday’s hearing.

Montgomery’s response reiterated that he would consider the petition again in six months time.

Sullivan County Assistant District Attorney Barry Staubus said misdemeanor convictions generally are not a barrier to becoming a bail bondsman, but Bentley’s case is a bit unusual because the petition was made while he was still serving his sentence for the conviction.

Felony convictions also do not always prohibit a person from becoming a bail bond writer. According to Tennessee law, a person convicted of a felony may only be allowed to serve as a surety if there has been a restoration of the convicted felon’s rights of citizenship.

Court records indicate a second prospective A-Hood bail bond writer, Marcella Taylor, brought Montgomery proof that Judge Phyllis Miller restored her citizenship on April 7, 2006, following Taylor’s 1989 conviction for sale of marijuana. However, the outcome of her case was not immediately known, as a judgment had not yet been entered in court records as of Wednesday afternoon.

Bail on Wheels

Bail Busters Bail Bonding LLC is busting out with a new office on wheels as part of a small public relations project to inform the community about the business of bail bonding.

This week, the business debuted its mobile response unit — an unusually painted black and red, full-size, half-ton conversion E-150 Ford van — equipped with 18-inch rims with low profile tires and a stereo system provided by Audio One in Clarksville. The paint job was by House of Customs in Trenton, Ky.

Jeff Moorhead, partner and lead fugitive recovery person at Bail Busters, said the office on wheels replaces the office at 10 Main St. and makes it easier to take care of all bail bonding needs.

The mobile response unit includes computers with mobile Internet, full function printers, all paperwork and a high-tech stereo system.

"We found we could respond better throughout the day and night using a mobile response unit," Moorhead said.

"It's a one-stop shop for entertainment, work and bounty hunting. ... It will take care of all our needs and customers' needs.

"I like to call it the new era of bail bonding."

The business bought the van in January and had it remodeled and repainted for high visibility.

Moorhead said the company plans to feature the van in city parades and will have a "Bail Bunnies" spokesmodel team.

The van will serve as an advertisement and a open door for public relations, he added.

"People have misconceptions about bail bondsmen and bounty hunters," Moorhead said. "We want to get rid of that misconception and let people know as a whole, bail bondsmen are good people. We want to dispel the myths and let people know we are out there to help them."

Bail Busters opened for business in October 2007.

Moorhead, who served in the Army for 12 years, and his wife, Tiana "Chantel" Moorhead, who dealt in insurance and banking, mixed their skills to start the business.

The company contracts with people who have been jailed so they can make bond.

The business also assures the court defendants will appear for their court date.

"My wife and I wanted to work for ourselves," Moorhead said. "We looked at how we can have a good job, take care of our family and help people on a daily basis. ... It comes down to we want to help people."

He said the new mobile response unit will give them the resources they need to make their jobs easier.

"Everyone will know Bail Busters Bail Bond, and there will be no mistaking where we are, who we are and what we do," Moorhead said. "It'll help in advertising, public relations and people will be able to stop us and ask questions."

Moorhead said the business' motto is "Who you gonna call," and with the new Mobile Response Unit rolling around town, advertising that question will be easy to answer.

Falling Through the Cracks: Criminals Who Avoid Jail

Dangerous criminals are falling through the cracks of the legal system by avoiding their court dates only to live a life of freedom.

Thousands of criminals who are supposed to be tried by a court of law have skipped town to stay under the radar of law enforcement. Many of them remain virtually invisible to law enforcement and never return. Local law enforcement does not have the resources to chase after every single criminal that gets away. However, a bail bondsman does, and as a result, the industry ends up helping law enforcement keep potentially dangerous criminals off of the streets.

Bobby Brown of Bobby Brown Bail Bonds in Colorado Springs is one bondsman making sure criminals don't get away. During a visit to his Colorado Springs office, Brown was in the process of locating a criminal facing two felony charges. NEWSCHANNEL 13's camera was rolling as Brown called law enforcement in Rapid City, South Dakota to inform them he had located a nationally wanted criminal.

During the call, Brown was able to inform local Rapid City law enforcement of the criminal's whereabouts and his charges.

As a bail bondsman, Brown has financial responsibility to track down criminals who avoid court appearances and even jail time. However, his work ends up helping law enforcement, as he and other bail bondsman have the resources to go after criminals local law enforcement cannot.

Brown tells NEWSCHANNEL 13 he tries his best but there's only so much he can do. At times, people facing charges are issued a bond by the county. In the past, there have been many people who avoid court appearances, ignoring their responsibility to the county issued bond. When this happens, Brown says it's the taxpayers who lose out with money that can't be replaced when a person facing criminal charges skips town.

Suspect Escapes Bondsman

A Laurel bondsman is looking for a client who walked away from him after his bail was paid last week at the Lincoln County Jail.

Bondsman Donald Dale Hollifield of Donald's Bonding Company said James May, 29, of Brookhaven, asked to borrow a cellular phone after being bonded out of the Lincoln County Jail on Wednesday.

Officials said May had called someone to come and pay the bondsman. But upon finding out payment would not be made, he took the phone and ran after talking on it shortly outside the jail.

May is charged with sexual assault and burglary after entering the home of an elderly Brookhaven woman. He was out on bond on a felony charge in Jones County at the time of his arrest, and was allowed bond in Brookhaven Municipal Court.

Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing said May's bond has been paid; therefore he is legally out of jail.

Brookhaven Police Chief Pap Henderson said the fact that May has not paid Hollifield is a problem, but not one that can be handled by jail or police officials until he does not appear in court at his preliminary hearing on June 30. And although his officers cannot legally apprehend May if he is found because he has bonded out, Henderson said they will be extra vigilant in protecting the community.

"I know that we will be protecting the victims and witnesses," he said. "We made them aware that he was bonding out. They're our priority."

Hollifield, however, is concerned about the possible $100,000 he may be held responsible for if May does not appear for his preliminary hearing.

"We're hunting him, and if anybody has any information to get him rounded up, we need them to call us," Hollifield said.

Hollifield can be reached at his company at (601) 649-2382.

May was arrested and charged in conjunction with a breaking and entering complaint reported May 30. When an officer was sent to the scene, the elderly victim reported that she found a man in her home who assaulted her sexually.

Officials said the woman told police she found the man standing in the living room of her home in a neighborhood off North Jackson Street. She said he made a threatening statement before putting a knife to her throat and taking her into the bedroom and assaulting her.

Did Aztec Judge Make Bail Officer’s Work Harder?

An Aztec municipal judge is accused of alerting a defendant that a bail officer was en route to arrest him.

The district attorney's office said Barbara Aldaz-Mills was charged Wednesday with misdemeanor encouraging violation of bail. She declines comment.

Her attorney, Victor Titus, said the charge is a legal impossibility, and he is advising her to vigorously challenge it.

A bail bondsman had gone to Durango, Colo., to arrest a man May 6 after a bail bond company requested that the man's $1,800 bond be revoked.

The Daily Times in Farmington reports the judge is accused of leaving a telephone message for the man, warning him that officers were coming to arrest him and to return to court to resolve the situation.

Bondsman Markets With Flair

Bail bondsman Duke Barrett's grammar can be questioned, but not his sense of humor. Barrett owns Ain't Gonna Wear Pink Shorts Bail Bonds on north Scottsdale Road in Tempe. He admits that the shorts are a reference to the pink underwear Maricopa Country Sheriff Joe Arpaio makes jail inmates wear.

"Some people come in here, see we have T-shirts with a pink-shorts logo, hot pink business cards and forms, and they don't get it," said Barrett, bail bondsman for five years who started his own business two years ago. "Most do understand the joke. Especially the sheriff's employees. They probably laugh the most."

Arpaio gets it, too.

"I've got to talk to my lawyer to see if they're stealing this from me," Arpaio said with a chuckle. "That's OK. He's encouraging people not to go to jail and get pink underwear and face the things we've taken away from them. He's helping people, in a strange way. It's good that he's spreading the word."

The front and back of Barrett's T-shirts show the universal circle with a slash symbol for "no" over a pair of pink shorts. He said he came up with the idea for the company name about two weeks before restaurateurs announced they were going to use the name Pink Taco in Scottsdale and long after Arpaio started dressing inmates in pink underwear. Barrett points out that he uses the word shorts, rather than underwear.

Barrett insists that while some of his customers think he's making fun of Arpaio's gimmick - the last four digits of the company's phone number spells out the word "pink" - nothing could be further from the truth."I'm not against the guy at all," said Barrett, who added he has never been in jail. "I'm not starting an anti-Arpaio campaign or anything like that. It's all gotten me a little publicity. It makes people smile. I was looking for an original name."

Barrett said he thinks people who use his services are already stressed out. While he takes his business seriously, he thinks a touch of humor can help ease tension.

Even in a courtroom.

Barrett said Superior Court Commissioner Lisa Ann VandenBerg smiled when she read aloud the name of his company Tuesday in court.

"She seemed to love to say the name," Barrett said. "That's what it's all about."

A spokesman for VandenBerg said she had no comment.

Barrett, also a fugitive recovery agent, admits he has tried to get the upper hand on the sheriff while doing so with criminals.

"I wanted to go with pink handcuffs, but the sheriff beat me to that, too," Barrett said. "I tell people I just want to get them out of their pink shorts. ... We'll get you out faster than the green baloney sandwiches the sheriff serves will."

Accused Bondsman Killer Fit For Trial

A Richmond man accused of killing a bail bondsman has been found competent to stand trial.

Richmond psychologist Evan S. Nelson evaluated James E. Carr, 20, to determine his competence to stand trial as well as his level of sanity at the time of the killing. Based on Nelson's conclusions, Richmond Circuit Judge Beverly W. Snukals yesterday found Carr competent for trial, despite previous testimony that he had complained of hearing voices urging him to kill himself.

James E. Carr, 20, waived his right to a trial by jury and agreed instead to be tried by Snukals on a charge of first-degree murder in the shooting death of James W. Woolfolk III. Snukals scheduled the trial for Aug. 15.

Defense attorney Dean Marcus said yesterday that Carr will not raise sanity as an issue in the trial, which is expected to last only a few hours because of general agreement about the facts of the case.

Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Matthew P. Geary predicted a straightforward case at trial.

"Sanity is not an issue, competence is not an issue," Geary said. "We have a very strong case."

Woolfolk, 39, was attempting to arrest Carr early on March 6 in South Richmond when the unarmed bondsman was shot three times from behind. Police arrested Carr hours later after a tense standoff in a home several blocks from the Joplin Avenue house where Woolfolk died.

It was the first time a bail bondsman had been killed in the line of duty in Virginia in modern memory. Carr has been held in a jail in New Kent County because of concerns about his safety in Richmond City Jail. Authorities said inmates there who relied on Woolfolk for bonding directed threats at Carr.