Inside the Real World of a Bounty Hunter

WATERLOO – Imagine a job where you could work, at any time during the day or night, convince people to reappear after vanishing and get paid only when you bring them back.

When a bounty hunter tells someone what they do for a living, the images of movies and television, especially Dog The Bounty Hunter, often come to mind. Yet in media, the bounty hunters pull in the people who are missing before the credits roll.

The team of Waterloo-based bounty hunters we followed on May 12th are part private investigators, part gentle interrogator and part sales professional.

“We’ve had guys get beat up, guns pulled on them,” admits David Lederman, owner of Lederman Bail Bonds in Waterloo, located across the street from the Black Hawk County Jail. This is his family’s business and has been since 1965.

Lederman said when a person calls their office to try and arrange for a bond to get released, the process starts. He said most of the bonds they write are for $1,000 or $2,000. The bail bonds company puts up that amount and Lederman collects 10 percent of the amount from a defendant’s co-signor — $100 or $200 for this example.

Read more here.

TSA Agent on Bail After Stealing Cash

A Transportation Security Administration agent surrendered to authorities on Tuesday and was charged with stealing almost $500 from a wheelchair-bound woman passing through a security checkpoint at Newark Liberty International Airport.

The TSA has suspended agent Leroy Ray, 44 of Newark, adding yet another incident to a growing list of troubling cases involving agency workers. Officials said 23 TSA agents have been removed or fired since 2007 for stealing items at security checkpoints or from checked baggage.
TSA surveillance cameras caught Ray taking money from a woman's purse after the bag passed through an X-ray machine Feb. 3, according to court documents. Ray allegedly took the bag to another table to search it and removed an envelope containing $300 and then $195 in cash from inside a zipper pocket.

The woman return minutes later to tell agents that she was missing the money. Ray walked into a nearby office when the woman returned to the checkpoint and placed what appeared to be the envelope in a lost and found tray, court documents said.

Read more here.

Audit shows that Bail bonds were not deposited

Toldeo, Ia. — At least $6,500 paid by accused criminals in Tama County as bail bonds was not deposited, according to a special investigation released by the state auditor Monday.

At least three bond payments between Feb. 23 and June 5 of 2009 were initially received by the Tama County sheriff's office and should have been remitted to the clerk's office for deposit, according to the audit. However, those deposits were not recorded on a receipt log, the audit concluded.

The audit was unable to determine whether the cash payments were received by the clerk and not deposited or whether the sheriff's office did not properly send the payment to the clerk's office.

The report was sent to the Division of Criminal Investigation, the Iowa attorney general's office and the Tama County attorney.

Read more here.

Judge Cuts Teens Bail After NAACP Protests

A district court judge in Redford Township ordered $25,000 cash bail amounts reduced Tuesday for all but one of 16 teenagers arrested late last month on charges of disturbing the peace near Thurston High School.

The decision by 17th District Judge Karen Khalil came after protesters organized by the NAACP Western Wayne Branch marched outside the court prior to the scheduled hearing with signs reading: "No justice, no peace."

Most of the teens, who are from Inkster, Dearborn Heights and Redford Township, had been held since their arrest on misdemeanor charges April 30. Defense attorney Nabih Ayad, who has called the situation racial profiling because the teens are African American, said the youths were unable to afford the $25,000.

On Tuesday, Khalil reduced bail to amounts ranging from personal recognizance to $500. However, a request to withdraw guilty pleas to disturbing the peace entered earlier by some of the teens was rejected by the judge.

Read more here and find and follow us on Twitter!

Man Who Blackmailed Lettermen Arrested

A US television producer has been sentenced to six months in jail for blackmailing the American chat show host David Letterman for his sexual affairs. Robert Halderman was a former CBS employee. He pleaded guilty in March and was given 1,000 hours of community service.

Halderman had demanded $2m from Letterman last year for not exposing sexual relationship he had with female members of the staff. David Letterman has admitted the alleged affairs. He had tried to extort the $2m payment from Letterman after reading about his ex-girlfriend’s diary.

Read more here and find & follow us on Twitter!

Grand Jury Indicts N.M. Bounty Hunter

Carlsbad, N.M., bounty hunter Jarrod Neal Flaming, 41, was indicted for murder Thursday.

Flaming, 41, also was indicted by a Hale County grand jury for execution of capias or arrest warrant and unauthorized contract with bail bond surety.

His partner, Morgan E. Moore, 41, also of Carlsbad, was indicted for execution of capias or arrest warrant and unauthorized contract with bail bond surety.

Police said on Feb. 9, 2010, Moore, an employee of Bad Dog Bail Bonds Inc., of which Flaming is president and CEO, knocked on the door of an apartment at Central Apartments, 910 W. 28th, just before 8:30 p.m. and was allowed in by the resident.

When Moore attempted to take 31-year-old Derek Graves into custody, he reportedly jumped out the kitchen window where Flaming was waiting, police said. Graves then fled on 29th Street and into the backyard of a residence at 1111 W. 29th where he was found by officers with one gunshot wound from a 9mm handgun.

Graves, who was living in Amarillo but temporarily staying in Plainview with family, was wanted on a Potter County warrant of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

Read more here and don't forget to subscribe to our free bi-monthly newsletter, The Bail Report, for news, upcoming events, and much more!