Bounty Hunters Need Training

It's time for the Washington Legislature to revisit the issue of bounty hunters to ensure that they are properly trained.

The Legislature took a positive step in 2004 when the House and Senate unanimously passed House Bill 2313 to set minimal expectations for the bail bondsmen industry.

It's a tough job.

When a person is booked into jail, the defendant generally turns to a bail bond agency to post a bond to guarantee that the defendant will appear for future court dates. A friend or relative of the defendant usually pays a premium, generally 10 percent of the bond amount, for this service, as well as providing collateral such as a lien on a home. If the defendant does not show up as scheduled for court, the defendant is considered a fugitive from justice and the bail bond company is liable to pay the entire amount of the bond. A grace period is generally granted so the employees of the bonding agency — so-called bounty hunters — can try to track down the defendant and get that person back before a judge.

It's dangerous work because bounty hunters are searching for fugitives who don't want to go back to jail.

In the 2004 legislation, lawmakers established a system of mandatory licensing for bounty hunters. The law requires prior notice to local law enforcement agencies including identifying clothing information when bail bond recovery agents make a planned forced entry to apprehend a fugitive.

The Legislature said bounty hunters must be at least 21 years of age and cannot have been convicted of a crime in the past 10 years. Bounty hunters must have 12 hours of training.

And with that minimal training, Washington's bounty hunters are using firearms, handcuffs, batons and stun guns to apprehend bail jumpers and bring them back to justice. Their training pales in comparison with that of law enforcement officers who use similar tools to apprehend criminals.

The state's oversight once a bounty hunter gets a license is minimal, and that's why legislative remedies are warranted.

For one thing, Sherri Lonsbery, manager of the state's bail bond licensing program, said the standards for what's an offense of a bail bond company are unclear. "We don't regulate bad behavior," Lonsbery said. "We don't regulate their actions once they're licensed, necessarily. If they break down the door to the wrong house, (state law) doesn't say they are responsible to replace that door."

Washington requires bounty hunters to receive training, but doesn't specify what most of it should entail or establish a certification process for trainers. And the state doesn't endorse trainers who teach bounty hunter skills.

Most other states that have licensing requirements, such as Virginia, also regulate the trainers of aspiring bounty hunters, said Mel Barth, executive director of the National Association of Bail Enforcement Agents.

Barth said he was surprised that Washington doesn't do so. "That's a little crazy, to be honest with you," he said. "I don't approve of that."

Prior to 2004, anyone could call themselves a bounty hunter and go after fugitives. The legislation that was passed that year helped bring bounty hunters under state control. It was only a start. It's time for the Legislature to set standards of acceptable behavior for bonding companies and to put licensing requirements for trainers in place.

Yo Quiero In!

In his upstart race against two-term District 1 incumbent Angel Gonzalez, Mike Suarez is definitely the underdog. He's got less money, fewer connections, and — judging from a stroll through the heart of Allapattah — a far smaller quantity of signage than his opponent. Gonzalez's smiling, stately (if somewhat vampiric) face dominates the neighborhood's restaurants, shops, and vacant lots.

Still, Suarez has at least one key constituency behind him that Gonzalez is unlikely to claim: bail bondsmen. At least two bondsmen's offices near the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Allapattah are sporting Suarez campaign signs; not one is for Gonzalez. It's not difficult to guess why; Suarez is himself a bondsman. He posts bond for recent arrestees — at Ace Bonding on 14th Street, in front of which a Suarez sign has been staked into the ground. A competitor, Dade County Bail Bonds, is also plugging the candidate: A campaign sign is posted proudly in the driveway, right in front of the company's "Bail Bus," which bears a painted cartoon of a jailed Chihuahua holding a sign that reads "Yo Quiero Out!"

Even the bondsmen who have chosen not to advertise Suarez's campaign favor him. "Oh yeah, I like him," says Martha Lopez, the owner of Lady Bond Bail Bonds. Christian Castillo of Castillo Bail Bonds also opted against hosting signs, but says Suarez is indeed his profession's candidate of choice. "Yeah, a lot of bondsmen have stickers," he says. "You know, he used to work here for a while. He's a good guy — I think he'd be good. You ever heard of Bounty Girls Miami? Now that's a story you should do."

Late Night Standoff In Orange County

The man accused of holding Orange County deputies at bay for hours in a standoff is expected to appear before a judge Monday.

Donny Hinds, 28, barricaded himself inside his home on Baronette Drive after shooting at five bail bondsmen that showed up at his house to take him into custody. Deputies were then called in.

Hinds eventually surrendered after the SWAT team used tear gas and stormed the home. He was wanted on fleeing and eluding, in addition to cocaine possession charges.

Man Indicted With Impersonating Bail Agent

Julian B. Stevens III, 41, of 489 Hayes Cemetery Road or 847 Marshall Ridge Road, both in Greensburg, was indicted on a charge of impersonating a peace officer.

According to Stevens' arrest citation, Campbellsville Police received a complaint that a person was being threatened at a home on Taylor Boulevard. After police arrived, the citation states, Stevens told police that a friend had been threatened by another person.

The citation states Stevens produced a badge and a pair of handcuffs and told the person he was a bail agent and would take that person into custody. Two badges and handcuffs were found in Stevens' possession, according to court records.

Bond was set at 10 percent of $20,000. If convicted, Stevens could be sentenced to as much as five years in prison.

Bounty Hunter Challenges Merimon Suspect to Lie Detector Test

The suspect in the disappearance of Peggy Merimon is now being called upon to take a lie detector test.

"I'm offering to foot the expenses of whatever it takes to get to the bottom of the truth and find out where Peggy Merimon is," said Gary Pringle, a bounty hunter heading up the search for Peggy Merimon.

Pringle issued that challenge Tuesday morning at the Lubbock County Courthouse. After searching for more than a year, he says it's time to bring Peggy home. Pringle says he'll pay for a polygraph, or anything else, that is needed to find Peggy.

"I've been advised that I'm wasting my time," Pringle says. "Everybody tells me that I should not be doing this, but I have observed what this had done to the family of Peggy Merimon. I have observed what this has done to Gearl, and to put it bluntly, I'm tired of it."

Merimon disappeared August 9, 2006 from the Lubbock State School, along with co-worker Kay Harrelson. Searchers found Harrelson's body near Shallowater days later, but Merimon is still missing.

A suspect in this case was recently terminated from the Lubbock State School, after spending more than a year on paid administrative leave.

If you know anything about the whereabouts of Peggy Merimon, give Crime Line a call at (806) 741-1000.

Another search will be held this Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m., and volunteers are needed.
If you can help, meet Pringle and his team at the Valero Fast Stop, at the corner of Clovis and Frankford.

Court Upholds Bondsmen's Right to Solicit Business

With phone in hand and dialing finger at the ready, bail bondsman Carl Pruett turned out to be a faster gun than the uniformed folks in reaching people with outstanding arrest warrants.

That got him in trouble not only with the law, but with his fellow bondsmen. Drumming up business by calling alleged criminals before they were picked up put the lives of officers in danger and gave the bad guys a reason to flee. And someone on the lam who is already carrying a bond could cost some other bondsman dearly.

Six years ago, the Harris County Bail Bond Board, which regulates the bond industry, told Pruett to stop calling. Officials said he was breaking a local rule that banned certain solicitations. And they threatened to suspend his license to do business.

Pruett fought back with a lawsuit against the board and Harris County and recently, after a protracted legal fight, a federal appeals court ruled he and fellow bondsman Scott Martin had a First Amendment right to consult public records, then solicit business by phone.

Calling times restrictedThe 5th U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that state-imposed restrictions on "commercial speech" were unconstitutional, but agreed with the state law restricting solicitation calls between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m.

Essentially, Pruett and Martin used public records to troll for people with outstanding warrants, and then called them to offer their services.

Constable offices, the county and other municipalities use those same records to mail thousands of letters every month to people with open warrants for bad checks, unreturned DVD rentals, unresolved traffic violations and other nonviolent criminal cases.

The 5th Circuit ruled that Pruett and Martin had the same rights to contact those people.
"The statute does not prevent attorneys, law enforcement officials or anyone else from alerting someone that he's the subject of an open warrant," the court said. "Harris County cannot give such notice itself and then claim that restricting notice by others is necessary to the safety of its officers and the public and the prevention of flight."

County Attorney Mike Stafford said the county didn't create or enforce the state law, but intervened to prevent bondsmen from "tipping off" alleged criminals. He said protecting officers from possible violence is a legitimate objection and the county will likely appeal the latest decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

David Furlow, who represents Pruett and Martin in the federal lawsuit, hailed the decision as a "vindication of First Amendment rights." But he said perhaps more importantly, the courts action sent a loud message to fellow bondsmen who saw Pruett and Martin as unscrupulous competitors.

"The largest bail bonding companies with large investments in Yellow Pages ads and large existing bases of criminal defendant clients, they wanted to restrict those and keep other bail bondsmen from contacting them," Furlow said.

Rules adopted in 2001Bail bond boards were created to provide local oversight of the bail bond industry. Members of those boards include the county sheriff, judges, court clerks — or their designees — and someone who issues bail bonds.

In 2001, the Harris County bond board adopted local rules to regulate bail-bond solicitation. The state enacted a similar law the same year, and charged the local board with enforcing it.
Both measures prohibit unsolicited contacts by bondsmen who don't have a prior relationship with an individual. They also ban solicitations by phone or in person within 24 hours of an arrest, and between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. Monday through Saturday.

The Professional Bondsmen of Texas went to the Legislature about a state law to help people whose "phone was literally ringing and ringing and ringing all night long," said Tillmin Welch, the group's legislative committee chairman.

Harris County has 76 licensed bail bonding companies.

Pruett, who is also a lawyer, and other bondsmen consulted public records in the Harris County Justice Information Management System, or JIMS, to find the names and addresses of people who are the subjects of arrest warrants. The county waits 48 hours to post information about outstanding warrants to allow officers to serve the alleged offenders, but several bondsmen said that they have colleagues who are accessing the information sooner.

Houston bondsman Glenn Strickland, who represents bondsmen on the bail bond board, said the practice amounted to nothing more than "ambulance chasing."

"There are certain people that will want to push the limits," he said. "Is the competition that fierce where you have to go do that?"

But Welch, who has been an Edinburg bondsman for three decades, said part of the law penalizes industrious businessmen.

"(These bondsmen) were in fact doing nothing more than the sheriff's office and some of the municipal courts were doing — only they were doing it faster."

Bond Set in Pickax Assault

Bond was set at $10,000 Wednesday for a Ballantine man accused of assaulting a bail bondsman with a pickax.

Peter Francis Dolan, 54, appeared in Justice Court by video from the county jail on a felony charge of assault with a weapon. Judge Larry Herman ordered Dolan to appear Friday for arraignment in District Court.

According to court records, Dolan was arrested Tuesday when Yellowstone County deputies responded to a disturbance at a residence in Ballantine. When they arrived, a man who identified himself as a bail bondsman said he was at the residence looking to arrest a man who had violated a bond agreement.

The bondsman said he approached Dolan and asked if he knew where to find his client. The bondsman said Dolan grabbed a pickax and swung it at him. The bondsman said he took out pepper spray he carries with him and threatened Dolan with the chemical if he did not put down the ax. Dolan put down the ax and the bondsman called law enforcement.

Suspect Surrenders Due to Bail Bondsman

A man suspected of being a member of the Hooded Safe Bandits is under arrest after turning himself in to police Wednesday night.

In an exclusive interview with Fox 31 News, the bail bondsman who arranged the surrender says they were looking for Manual Santistevan on an unrelated case.

He says they got in contact with Santistevan through his family and arranged the surrender.

The bail bondsman says Santistevan wanted witnesses because he was concerned police might hurt him. Santistevan is the third suspect arrested in the so-called Hooded Safe Bandits robberies.

Police earlier arrested his brother, Roman Santistevan, and Ishmael Mosely. The three are believed to be responsible for more than 20 armed robberies at metro area fast food restaurants and stores. Santistevan was also wanted in connection with a high speed chase last week.

The bail bondsman, who does not want his real name used says Santistevan told him that he was not involved in the robberies. And the bail bondsman says Santistevan told him that he sped away from an undercover officer because he did not realize it was the police.

According to search warrant documents, Mosley confessed to at least some of the robberies.

The arrest warrants in the Santistevan cases are sealed, but police say they have solid reasons to believe that both Santistevan brothers are involved.

Loyalist's Holiday Bail Change

A loyalist receiving legal aid has had his bail conditions altered so he can go on a week-long Carribean holiday.

Gary 'Jock' McKenzie, 25, faces UDA membership charges resulting from a dress rehearsal for a paramilitary show of strength last year in north Belfast.

He and a number of others, among them Ihab Shourki, were arrested during a police raid at the Alexandra Bar.

A Crown barrister said on he had no objection to McKenzie going on holiday on 3 September.

McKenzie was one of a number of people who left north Belfast last August for England following a stand-off with members of the mainstream UDA.

He has had his bail conditions altered a number of times in the past, including allowing him to live in exile.

Judges in Newark More Cautious With Bails After Triple Slaying

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Judges in Newark have been making it tougher for suspects in crimes to be released on bail since an illegal immigrant who was free on bail in another case was charged in the horrific slaying of three Newark college students.

Essex County Assignment Judge Patricia Costello has told the judges who hear criminal cases in her county to end the practice of approving bail reductions in off-the-record conferences with attorneys and to obtain written consent from prosecutors before reducing bail. She has also told them to verify defendants’ immigration status.

Man Charged with Murder has his Bail Altered for School

David Bain has had his bail conditions changed so he can move to West Auckland to study for a design qualification.

Mr. Bain is awaiting a re-trial for the murder of his family.

He was released on bail on 15 May after the Privy Council found there had been a miscarriage of justice in his 1995 conviction. He had spent the past 12 years in prison after being convicted of killing his father, mother, and three siblings in a mass shooting at the family home in Dunedin on 20 June 1994.

On 21 June, 2007, the Solicitor General announced a retrial would be held.

Mr. Bain had been living in Waikato with long time supporter Joe Karam under the condition that Mr. Karam would stay there most of the time.

But Mr. Karam says he has been traveling a lot to prepare for the case. He says Mr. Bain will now live with Deborah Read, the daughter of one of his staunchest supporters.

Mr. Karam says Mr. Bain began studying for the design qualification in prison and needs to be near a polytech to finish it.

He says the Reads have been friends with Mr. Bain for years and are like family to him.

Get out of jail, flee? Firms warn bond ATM risky

Dining out, traveling and shopping all became fast and easy with the advent of the credit card.

Now, so has something else: posting bond.

A sleek, ATM-style kiosk now greets arrivals in the concrete block lobby of the St. Lucie County jail, its animated touch screens beckoning arrivals who may debit or charge their bond - the price the accused pays to walk free before standing trial - to a Visa or MasterCard.

Since card processing debuted Aug. 1, 41 inmates have swiped $55,000 in bond payments.

While jail officials tout the new credit card option as a boon to taxpayers and inmates, those in the bail bond industry complain that the credit card system is an unfair and impotent competitor.

But it is faster.

The credit card system speeds the release of inmates who intend to post bond by hours, saving taxpayers some portion of the roughly $69 it costs to house an inmate for a day, jail officials say.

“The faster we can get them out of our house and in their own house, the better,” said Maj. F. Patrick Tighe, jail administrator for the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office.

Charging also costs less: 3.2 percent with a minimum service charge of $2.50, vs. the 10 percent a bail bond company usually charges a customer upfront and then keeps after the accused has his day in court.

Profits from the fees cover the cost of the kiosk and processing equipment, which also allow visitors to deposit cash - for a $5 service fee - into inmate accounts used to buy toiletries and snacks from the jail commissary. The fees pay for jail services and amenities, such as the libraries, substance abuse program or classes to help inmates complete their education by earning a General Educational Development diploma.

“It’s not out of the taxpayers’ money,” Tighe said. “It’s out of these profits.”

But the bail bond industry has fought credit card bond processing in other states where the machines have appeared, including California and Indiana. Credit card processing cuts deeply into the essential moneymakers of what remains an industry of mom-and-pop businesses: bonds ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, said Bill Kreins, spokesman for Professional Bail Agents of the United States, an industry association.

And unlike a credit card processor, a bond company has the tools and, more important, the incentive to hunt down those who skip bond, Kreins said. Kiosk users who flee face interest payments and a new warrant issued for their arrest.

Those who skip out on the bond face the bounty hunter.

“Sure, it cuts into business, but business is business and people can always open a store next to you,” said Kreins, who runs a surety company.

“There’s nobody who’s going to go out and arrest the defendant when he fails to appear. A bail bondsman basically rearrests at no cost to the taxpayers.”

A local bond agency said it was too early to tell whether the electronic system had affected the company. “A lot of people go out there with a money order or even pay cash to get someone out of jail,” said Janet Collins of Carroll Collins Bail Bonds.

Kreins said lawsuits to keep charge cards out of jails succeeded in California and failed in Indiana, arguing that the credit card processors amounted to unfair competitors that set prices and fee structures outside the regulatory eyes of state departments of insurance and banking, which typically oversee the bond industry. Kreins said a similar suit may be planned for Florida, where several other counties are considering allowing bond payments by credit card.

St. Lucie County is the first county to process bond payments through myfloridacounty.com. The Web site offers credit card payment options for other services - such as vehicle tag and driver license renewal - for 50 of Florida’s 67 counties.

Bondsmen Charged After Breaking Into Home

Authorities say they broke down the door at an Imperial home, holding an innocent couple at gunpoint. Now, three Missouri bail bondsmen are facing criminal charges.

Authorities say the men were looking for a fugitive. But somehow, they ended up at the wrong house.

It was a quiet night in April, when Garth Myers and his fiancée Melissa Bauman were awakened by a loud crash at their home.

Lt. Tommy Wright with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department says, “The couple was obviously very scared. They didn’t know what was going on. They report hearing a loud bang. They were immediately confronted by four men wielding handguns and a shotgun.”

But authorities say the armed intruders weren’t looking to rob their home. In fact, they weren’t looking for their home at all. Wright says, “Turns out some bondsmen were at the wrong house.”

They were bondsmen working for the AAA Bail Bonds Company. They were searching for someone who skipped bond, but apparently searching in the wrong place.

Now prosecutors have charged Steven Morgan, Thaddeus Bibb and Randall Avett. They’re facing counts of burglary, armed criminal action, felonious restraint, and property damage.

Lt. Wright says, “They had no legal right to enter that residence. They had no more right than you or I did to enter that residence. That’s why they were charged with what they were charged.”

It’s taken four months for charges to be filed. Morgan, Bibb and Avett all promptly posted bond courtesy of AAA Bail Bonds. The owner tells us he’s reserving judgment on his contract employees, until he knows all the facts.

Still authorities say bondsmen have to have legitimate grounds to enter a house. Lt. Wright says, “They’re held in the same standards as we are in the sense that they have to have the right information. They can’t just go around kicking in doors without doing the appropriate homework and knowing that the person they’re chasing is actually in there.”

In addition to the bondsmen, two other people are also facing charges in connection with the incident.

The victims in this case say they’ve filed a civil suit.

Terror suspect asked to pay higher bail surety

A Sydney terrorism suspect has been asked to provide more bail surety, before the Supreme Court will formally confirm the continuation of his bail.

Bilal Khazal, 34, remains on bail and bound by a series of strict undertakings, after the third day of a Supreme Court review into his bail, which was granted by a local court earlier this month.

The Lakemba man is charged with compiling a book which was posted on the Internet, which the prosecution alleges could have incited terrorism.

Since Khazal was granted bail, the New South Wales Government has amended legislation to create a presumption against bail for people on terrorism-related charges.

But Justice Greg James today told the Supreme Court that Khazal had overcome that presumption.

Justice James told the Supreme Court he was unable to see how Khazal was a particular risk to the community.

N.J. Officers to Take More Note of Immigration Status

Police officers in New Jersey must now notify immigration officials about any undocumented person who is arrested in connection with an indictable crime, under a directive issued Wednesday by Attorney General Anne Milgram.

The need for “a uniform state policy on notification” to immigration authorities became evident after a man identified as being in the country illegally was charged in a recent triple homicide in Newark, Milgram said during a news conference.

“Some counties and local police departments do it all the time, some sometimes do it, and some never,” she said. That changes “effective immediately,” Milgram said.

Milgram emphasized that the directive isn’t tantamount to a crackdown on illegal immigration. It also prohibits law enforcement authorities from inquiring about the immigration status of crime victims and witnesses, she said, adding that her office will monitor how police implement it.

Several local police officials said they’d have to review the directive before commenting. “If it’s an attorney general guideline, we’ll certainly follow it to the letter of the law, as we do with other attorney general guidelines,” said Teaneck Detective Lt. Dean Kazinci. Immigration officials praised the directive.

“We are pleased to learn that the State of New Jersey has decided to forge a statewide collaborative partnership with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)” office, the statement said.

“State and local law enforcement play a critical role in ensuring the safety of our communities,” the ICE office said in a written statement. “During the course of daily duties, they often encounter foreign-born criminals and immigration violators who pose a threat not only to national security but also to public safety.”

Scott Weber, the field office director for ICE in Newark, said the agency is prepared for an increased workload stemming from the directive.

“We can handle it,” he said.

Such a directive very likely would have kept Jose Carranza, one of several people charged in the Aug. 4 killings of three Newark college students, behind bars after previous charges for child rape and aggravated assault, Milgram said. Carranza, from Peru, had been free on bail when the slayings occurred.

Essex County authorities said they were unaware of his status at the time of the two earlier arrests. But they also said their policy had been to notify immigration authorities only after a conviction, not an arrest.

“This is not about immigration — it’s about crimes,” Milgram said during an interview after the news conference. “At the end of the day, the foremost question is a public safety question.” Illegal immigrants suspected of serious crimes can be a flight risk, the attorney general said. Immigration officials have the power to detain an illegal immigrant based on the civil violation of being in the United States unlawfully, pending the prosecution of criminal charges.

“You want to make sure the federal government knows, and the county and local prosecutors know, [a suspect’s immigration status],” Milgram said. “It’s relevant to bail considerations whether an individual has sufficient ties to the community.”

Wednesday’s directive requires that police check the citizenship, nationality and immigration status of suspects during the booking process for charges linked to serious crimes and for driving while intoxicated. An officer who finds or suspects illegal status must contact immigration officials, as well as the prosecuting agency and the courts.

In fiscal years 2005 and 2006, ICE received roughly 7,400 inquiries about immigration status from New Jersey law enforcement authorities, said ICE spokesman Michael Gilhooly. So far this year, that number has risen to 9,400, he said.

ICE has been trying to deepen its connections to local, county and state law enforcement authorities through a federal program that deputizes police to enforce immigration laws. So far, only Morristown has applied to be admitted into the program, which is opposed by immigration advocates who fear it could lead to civil rights abuses against immigrants. Milgram said any town admitted into the program must implement it within the guidelines of her directive.

This could make for an interesting battle.

Although he said it said it was “about time New Jersey does something like this,” Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello said he didn’t believe Milgram could restrict his officers’ actions. “She might have authority to tell my police what they could do as local police, but not when they’re working as federal deputized agents,” the mayor said, emphasizing that he would fight any restrictions that he opposed.

Milgram responded that the directive would supersede federal guidelines because New Jersey law enforcement comes first and foremost under her authority.

Some local police said they’ve asked for proof of citizenship status from people arrested for major crimes, such as robbery and murder, although not necessarily for drunk driving.

Paramus Deputy Police Chief Richard Cary said there already is a question on the department’s standard arrest form about immigration status, and that officers ask suspects in serious criminal cases whether they are U.S. citizens and have the documentation to prove it. However, he said that question currently isn’t part of the standard procedure for processing DUI suspects.

“We do notify immigration [officials] as to the status,” Cary said. “What they do with it is up to their office.”

Some police said they wished immigration officials would more consistently respond to their calls. Too often, they said, immigration authorities seem too busy.

“I would like to see them intervene immediately,” said Clifton Police Capt. Robert Rowan. Charles Goldstein of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network, meanwhile, expressed concern that police might abuse their new authority.

“In the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, these directives are unavoidable,” he said. “But what is crucial is that this not be utilized for false arrests and that this not lead to creeping racial problems. The ongoing monitoring by the state will be crucial.”

Chapman Not out of the Doghouse

Four weeks after a Mexican court dropped charges against Duane “Dog” Chapman and two others, a federal judge has refused to drop a $300,000 bond against the star of A&E's Dog the Bounty Hunter. The charges are the result of Chapman's 2006 arrest regarding the capture of fugitive rapist, Andrew Luster.

Luster, heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune, was convicted of 86 counts of rape, and was sentenced in absentia to 124 years in prison. Prior to his conviction, Luster fled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where he was eventually captured by Chapman, son Leland, and fellow bounty hunter, Tim Chapman in June 2003. Luster was then taken into custody by Mexican authorities.

Duane Chapman's involvement in the high-profile case landed him Dog the Bounty Hunter on the cable network, but ironically, it is also what got him in trouble with the law. Because bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico, Chapman was charged with “deprivation of liberty,” and last September, was apprehended by U.S . Marshals at the request of prosecutors in Mexico. He was released on the $300,000 bond.

Late last month, Mexican judge Jose Alberto Montes dismissed the charges, which could have resulted in a maximum penalty of four years in prison. The judge said the statute of limitations had expired, and prosecutors subsequently submitted an appeal.

Despite the dismissal of the charges, US Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren left the bond in effect last week. The lifting of the bond was also opposed by The US Office of International Affairs in Washington, while a federal prosecutor reportedly wants more time to review the case.

A hearing has been set for October 26, when it will be decided whether the order will be kept in effect in the United States. Meanwhile, Chapman is allowed to travel, as long as he informs the court. Currently, the Bounty Hunter star is on a tour promoting his new book, You Can Run, But You Can't Hide, which recently topped the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list.

"We're devastated," Duane Chapman and his wife Beth said in a statement.

"We love this country and are proud to be Americans, so this is absolutely devastating that we can now roam free in Mexico, but not in our own country."

Corruption Case Leads to Overhaul Recommendations in New Haven

NEW HAVEN — A national policing consultant submitted its 97-page draft report of the city police force Monday, making more than 50 recommendations for reforms inside the department in the wake of a corruption scandal that led to arrest of two officers.

Among recommendations from the Police Executive Research Forum was to hire an outsider to oversee the detective bureau and reconstituted anti-drug squad and improve oversight of use of informants and confidential informants funds.

A look at the now-disbanded narcotics unit, which was the focus of an FBI probe, revealed outdated, unsound procedures in dealing with seized evidence, informant funds and informants. And what policies were in place were often ignored by the former Lt. William White, who was arrested in March for allegedly stealing what he believed was drug money and accepting bribes from bail bondsmen. The unit apparently didn’t maintain any systemized records keeping or case tracking. Prosecutors who spoke with PERF reported poor quality reports that lacked essential details and contained frequent errors.

"I’m somewhat alarmed that the department does not have guidelines to regulate how it deals with confidential informants," said Jeff Meyer, a Quinnipiac University law professor and former federal prosecutor appointed to a local panel to work with PERF. He expressed equal surprise there wasn’t a systemized procedure for auditing financial books.

There are regulations, but they date back 24 years and were not followed, the report says.

When the narcotics unit is re-formed, candidates should be carefully screened and required to undergo background reviews, credit history checks and drug screening, said Craig Fraser, director of management services for PERF.

The city hired the consultant to examine the department’s internal affairs division, detective bureau and narcotics unit after the FBI raided police headquarters and arrested Detective Justen Kasperzyk and White, longtime head of the drug squad.

Fraser said a look at the department revealed strengths and weaknesses.

"What is the department doing right? Basic police work goes on day-to-day, investigations continue and bad guys are arrested," said Fraser. He cited the partnership with Yale Child Study Center and a lot of dedicated officers who are committed and eager to improve it.

At the same time, PERF noted a list of deficiencies that suggested a level of disorganization inside the department, a lack of clear, delineated direction and a general perception among many community members and some officers that the department hit a plateau and has started to regress in engaging the community to solve problems.

"There is a feeling, a frustration, that it has lost maybe its edge in terms of community policing," Fraser said.

If police Chief Francisco Ortiz Jr. was bothered by critiques of his department, he didn’t show it. After the draft report was publicly presented at City Hall, he described the study as a "great piece of work" and a "blueprint for success."

Rob Smuts, the city’s chief administrative officer, said some of the reforms already are in place and he and department brass would analyze the report to determine priorities.

Fraser said PERF does not apply a letter grade to its performance reports.

In comparison to other departments PERF has studied, Fraser said "New Haven has more challenges than some of the other departments we’ve looked at." As for the top brass in the department, he said it is "hamstrung" by lack of mid-level bosses.

The first peek at the study was somewhat of a spectacle. Typically, PERF provides the draft to the department behind closed doors but was directed to present it publicly to the panel the mayor appointed.

City officials first saw the report Monday. Tara Knight, a local defense attorney and member of the panel, asked if anything was pulled from the report. "Did we pull anything at the behest of the city?" responded Fraser. "No we did not."

Last year, an unrelated draft report by a different agency on the corporation counsel’s office recommended the city replace the head of that office. But that reference was deleted in the final report, at the request of the city.

Here are some PERF recommendations:

The department, in concert with the community, should develop a city-wide annual crime reduction strategy, the lack of which has caused a disjointed approach to controlling crime.

The department should create an assistant chief-level position and fill it with someone from the outside to oversee the detective bureau and narcotics squad. Clear guidelines with an eye toward accountability should be established for the anti-drug unit, narcotics investigators should be rotated out every four years and the bureau should get new case management software to better track investigations.

The department should create a Professional Standards Bureau, headed by another assistant-chief-level supervisor, to include internal affairs to investigate misconduct, an auditing function capable of reviewing the informants fund and other department finances, and individuals to revise the department’s written policies.

Many of the department’s written policies, guidelines and general orders are either far outdated or non-existent, and in some areas, the department doesn’t currently meet even "basic standards" for written directives, the report says. As a result, it sends a message to employees that following those directives is not important or even expected, the report concludes.

Staffing in the records room should be increased. When PERF tried to look at solvability rates for crimes, the department couldn’t provide it because it has a two-year backlog. The city supplies statistics for neither the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report, which examines trends nationwide, nor the National Incident-Based Reporting System, the report says.

Make mid-level promotions of supervisors and provide ongoing training department-wide. In a recommendation Fraser called urgent, the department should start conducting annual performance reviews to provide officers with feedback on their performance and where they fall short. Currently, officers rarely get feedback on the quality of their work, he said.

City officials have said that isn’t done because of concerns that a written review would be a public document under state Freedom of Information laws.

New Haven Register

Drug trafficking suspect who fled Miami found in Spain - 08/13/2007 - MiamiHerald.com

Two weeks after his family posted a $1 million bond to get him out of federal custody, Darli Velazquez Armas disappeared.

It took the bail bond company, Bail Yes, of Miami, a few months, but last week their investigators tracked Velazquez to Spain. That's where Spanish authorities, agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and the bail bondsmen picked him up, said Sam Jochananov, a bondsman.

Velazquez is facing federal drug trafficking charges. According to an affidavit filed in court, on Jan. 30 Velazquez received 85 kilograms of a white powder he thought was cocaine during a sting organized by the DEA. Border agents had already seized the real stuff, 130 kilos from Ecuador found in a shipping container at the Port of Miami.

After his arrest, Velazquez put up the house he shared with his ex-wife -- it belongs to her father -- as well as another house in North Carolina as collateral for the bond, Jochananov said.

''He was on an ankle monitor. It went off and the feds went over there on March 11,'' Jochananov said. ``They went to the house, found he wasn't there.''

So the bond company hired bounty hunter Rolando Betancourt, who rented a garbage truck and picked up the Velazquez's family's garbage. In the trash: business cards indicating Velazquez had skipped to Spain, according to an investigative report provided to The Miami Herald by the bond company.

''Over there, at first he wasn't too careful,'' Jochananov said. ``He was actually using his own name.''

The bail bond company quickly sent an investigator to Spain.

''When you got that much at risk, you sort of put your nose to the grindstone,'' he said. ``I mean, it's a million-dollar skip.''

The Spanish Interior Ministry told the Associated Press that Velazquez was arrested in the Canary Islands in a raid coordinated with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

He was first located in June in a Madrid suburb, but he escaped a dragnet after ramming his car into a police vehicle. Later, he was found in the town of Vecindario on Gran Canaria, one of Spain's Canary Islands, from where he had continued to engage in drug trafficking, officials said. They put him under surveillance, the Spanish ministry told the AP.

Last Friday, police chased Velazquez from Vecindario to the capital city Las Palmas, the AP reported. At one point Velazquez got out of his car and fled on foot through a cemetery. He later attempted two carjackings before police finally arrested him in an industrial area, and even then he tried to grab an officer's gun, a ministry official told the AP.

N.J. bail laws under scrutiny

TRENTON — When Jose Carranza walked free from the Essex County Jail in May, it was about as easy as could be for a man charged with sexually assaulting a child.

His $150,000 bail was the lowest amount recommended for his alleged crime.

The illegal immigrant from Peru — who worked as a laborer — could have had to pay his bail in cash, but was allowed to have it done by a bail bondsman.

This came seven months after he paid $2,000 to get out of that same jail after being charged with assault and weapons possession following a bar fight.

Among questions surrounding the 28-year-old Carranza is how he was free on bail when four college students were shot execution-style in a Newark schoolyard on Aug. 4. Three of the victims were killed, and Carranza has been charged in the slayings along with two juveniles.

His status as an illegal immigrant quickly sparked questions about why Essex County authorities never contacted federal immigration officials. However, the ease with which he got of jail has raised additional questions.

"He should have been stopped a long time ago," said Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer.

Carranza has pleaded not guilty and is being held on $1 million bail.

Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker addressed the bail issue yesterday at a news conference announcing a new initiative to put more than 100 surveillance cameras in high-crime neighborhoods.

"I often see people back on our streets that I believe should not be back on our streets after they've committed serious crimes," Booker said. "I have a lot of frustration. My focus, first of all, is to take care of our house here in Newark. However I would be remiss if I wasn't calling for larger changes and larger reforms in the state of New Jersey and the United States."

This is not the first time bail laws have been questioned in New Jersey.

Last year, an Orange police detective was shot and killed by a man free on bail on robbery and weapons charges. And in 2001, a Mercer County pizza shop owner was killed by a suspect free on armed robbery charges.

"We need to put an end to this culture," said Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-Essex.

Upon Codey's request, Attorney General Anne Milgram has agreed to investigate, but defense attorneys note federal and state constitutions guarantee the right to bail.

"The bail laws ought not come into question," said Dale Jones, an assistant state public defender.

According to court records, Carranza was arrested Oct. 1 after the fight in West Orange.

Though recommended state bail ranges meant he could have faced bail as high as $100,000, it was set at $50,000 and then lowered to $20,000. As is allowed, he posted 10 percent and was released Oct. 4.

He was arrested Jan. 16 on the aggravated sexual assault charges in Orange. His bail was then set at $200,000 and lowered to $150,000 on Jan. 29. The bail bondsman posted it on Feb. 6, and he released the next day.

He was arrested again on more sexual assault charges on May 3, and his bail was set at $300,000, but Judge Thomas Vena lowered it to $150,000 on May 17. Since Carranza had already posted that amount, he walked free on May 22.

Under the ranges set in 2005 by a special state judicial panel, $150,000 to $300,000 is recommended for aggravated sexual assault.

Vena's office referred calls to Essex County Assignment Judge Patricia Costello, whose office released information stating Vena lowered the bail with consent from an Essex County assistant prosecutor. But Charlotte Smith, executive assistant Essex County prosecutor, said the assistant didn't agree to lower the amount below $300,000.

Smith declined further comment.

Turner said she's disappointed Vena did not use a state law she sponsored that allows judges to require people to pay their bail in cash if they're facing at least two indictable offenses when arrested.

Supreme Court lowers amount Iowans need to get out of jail

The Iowa Supreme Court has lowered the amount of cash needed to get out of jail, a change that took effect Wednesday.

The change will be beneficial for those arrested plus their friends and family members who might want to bail them out, one bail bondsman said.

"They were outrageously high before," Jay Rothmeyer of Iowa Bail Bonds said of the bail bonds. "It was too expensive for people to get their friends and relatives out of jail.''

Rothmeyer contended that though he will make less money as a result of the Aug. 2 decision, business will increase as more people will be able to pay the 10 percent needed for release.

Inmates can be released by paying the entire bond themselves, or paying the 10 percent to a bondsman, who posts bond on the assurance that the inmate will appear in court.

"If more people can afford to get out, everyone's going to be OK in the long run," Rothmeyer said.

The bond schedule was last changed in 1999.

The Uniform Bond Schedule is set by the Court Judicial Council, which advises the Supreme Court regarding administration of the state's judicial branch and is made up of the chief judges of each of Iowa's eight districts, the chief judge of the Court of Appeals and Marsha Ternus, chief justice of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ruling said modifications to the bail bond schedule were warranted, but didn't give reasons.

Bail costs will drop significantly. For example, bond for second-degree theft, a class D felony, will be cut nearly in half from $9,750 to $5,000. Bond for first-offense drunken driving, a serious misdemeanor, will drop from $1,950 to $1,000.

The updated bond schedule will not apply to those in jail for forcible felonies, such as murder, the manufacture, possession or dealing of methamphetamine or stalking.

Bonds also cannot be added on each other, according to the order signed by Ternus.

Inmates must now pay the amount only for the highest class of offense charged, "regardless of the number of equal or lesser charges."

Rothmeyer said that in his experience, bond schedules generally increase. The drop, he said, was a pleasant surprise. Especially when judges adjusted the schedule Wednesday.

"To get everyone on the same page, that will take a while," he said.