Sometimes 'Risky Business'

There was a time when Wayne Johnson did it all as a bail bondsman in Ellensburg.

That included going to the Kittitas County jail at all hours of the day or night to write a bond that would allow someone charged with a crime to be released on bail to Johnson with the sincere promise — backed up with a contract — that he or she will, indeed, appear in court at the appointed time.

Johnson had to size up the defendant quickly and determine what kind of collateral he can write the bond on: what the defendant has to fork over if he or she skips court dates.

Teen In Sex Case Freed On Bail

Keith Armstrong, the 18-year-old charged with having unlawful sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend in the police chief's apartment, was released from custody Wednesday after spending nearly three weeks in jail.

Armstrong, who is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Hartford on Oct. 31, left the Hartford Correctional Center on Wednesday afternoon after a bonding company posted the necessary $60,000 bail. A representative of Budget Bail Bonds LLC declined to disclose who paid for the bond.

Secret Service Investigates Check Cashing Suspects

NewsChannel 15 has learned Secret Service agents are investigating to see if the 11 people busted in a check cashing scheme in the Pee Dee are connected to an organized crime ring, the MS 13 gang. That's an organized Hispanic crime ring.

This week, police arrested 11 people for a check scam they say duped two stores in Florence and Marion Counties out of $16,000

Police believe many of the suspects are in the country illegally.

Friday morning, all 11 suspects appeared in a Florence County courtroom for a bond hearing. An interpreter helped them understand what was happening. The suspects told court officials they didn't have Social Security numbers or addresses in the Pee Dee, but they did provide phone numbers for the court.

The judge set their bonds at $10,000 dollars each. NewsChannel 15 talked with a bondsman who said it's unlikely the suspects will find a bondsman to work with them. "When a bondsman interviews a potential bond, the first thing they want to know is how strong their community ties are. Without strong community ties, you're going to have a hard time convincing a bondsman to do a 10, 15, 20 thousand dollar bond," said John Ham with Quick Silver Bonds.

All of the suspects qualified for a public defender, because most of them don't make enough money to hire a private attorney. They're scheduled to appear in court again on December 20th.

Secret Service agents are expected to be in town next week to further investigate this case.

At this point, none of the suspects have made bond.

Bounty Hunter Upset by Charges

Behind the tattoos covering his arms and creeping up his neck, Roger Brooks of the Marble City area is awell-spoken 33-year-old who has found himself on the wrong side of the law after nearly 10 years of trying to overcome his criminal past.

A case of mistaken identity that led to a botched bond enforcement operation in June may cost the self-professed bounty hunter 15 years of his life - behind bars. Now Brooks is coming forward in the hopes of clearing his name.

"We worked really really hard to come as far as we have...not to be looked at as criminals," Brooks said of his and his wife, Lisa.

Brooks, along with another man, Rodney Swearingen, was charged this summer with burglary and malicious injury to property after an incident that occurred while the two were allegedly working as bond enforcement agents, known as bounty hunters.

Brooks and Swearingen entered a Muldrow man's home in June and broke down a bathroom door in an attempt to apprehend the man whom Brooks and Swearingen thought was the fugitive they were seeking. But the "Frank McConnell" they thought they had located turned out to be the wrong man - a man by a different first name.

That mistake led to charges of burglary and malicious injury to property against the former bounty hunters - charges that Brooks calls unfair. Brooks is most puzzled that he was charged with burglary, instead of trespassing or a lesser charge.

"I'm not a burglar," Brooks said.

But Kyle Waters, the assistant district attorney who is reportedly handling the case, said the charge of burglary is often misconceived and doesn't always refer to theft. He said burglary doesn't require intent to steal anything, but is defined as entering without permission a residence to commit a crime.

Waters said the crime in this case was that Brooks and Swearingen broke down a door and threatened someone.

"They left without a word when they realized they made a mistake," Waters said.

Waters noted that Brooks' contact with Swearingen, a known felon, was also in violation of his probation. He said Brooks has waived his preliminary hearing and Brooks was going to do community sentencing, but didn't qualify.

A hearing that was set Monday in Brooks' case was continued. Swearingen currently has an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

Brooks said he had been a bounty hunter in the county for a long time - a job that he discovered he was good at doing after years of only being good at "rough housing."
Brooks said he had been working for Berglan Bail Bonds in Sallisaw for a year at the time of the incident. During that time, Brooks said he never made a mistake, until this year. He said now the owners of the bond company are denying he worked for them.

But Lance Berglan, the owner of Berglan Bail Bonds tells a different story.

BERGLAN'S STORY

Berglan on Thursday said Brooks was doing construction work for him at the time that Frank McConnell jumped bond. But Berglan denied that Brooks had been working for him as a bail bondsman for a year.

"That's not true," he said. "If he did, it wasn't for me."

He said Brooks offered to go get the man, a situation that he said "turned into a nightmare" and resulted in Berglan firing Brooks.

He claims that Brooks took it on himself to kick down a door and go into a home with his shirt off. Berglan noted that bounty hunters do not have to be licensed.

Berglan said when he needs someone caught, he tells anyone, even retired officers, that they are welcome to find the person. The bond retriever then gets a percentage from the bond.

He said he warns all bounty hunters not to go into anyone's home unless they see the person go into the home or public place. "It has to be the right guy," he emphasized.

Berglan said Brooks and Swearingen had no business going in the home. "They didn't know he was in there."

"What they did is against the law. He knew he was in the wrong," Berglan said.

He said he has been in the bond business for five years and he has never gone into anyone's home without seeing the wanted person go into the home. He added that he has never been brought up on charges either.

Berglan noted that he bonded both men out of jail after the incident, and would not divulge some information he said was between he and Brooks.

"They screwed up."

THE INCIDENT

In June, Brooks said he and Swearingen, who was his partner, went to an address in Muldrow that Frank McConnell, who had allegedly skipped bond, was supposedly staying.

Brooks said he had the Berglan Bail Bond file on McConnell with him and was even driving a Berglan vehicle at the time.

While the address he went to was a McConnell address, Brooks said, "Unfortunately it was the wrong McConnell."

But Brooks didn't discover that error until it was too late.

On that day, Brooks said he went through an open garage door and knocked on a door to the home, identifying himself as a bounty hunter. Brooks said he looked through the window of the door and saw what appeared to be an elderly person's home and saw that it looked like someone had been sleeping on a couch. He thought that person was Frank McConnell.

The two staked out the place for a while - waiting on someone to pull up to the home. After about 30 minutes the two went to get a snack and drink, came back and again approached the home, but no one was there, Brooks claims. Brooks said he wondered why the garage door was left open if no one was home.

"Something tells me this guy is in there," he said.

He went back to watching the home when he said he saw a person peek out from the window blinds.

A few minutes later, Brooks and Swearingen made their move. Brooks said he and Swearingen shed their shirts because they thought there could be trouble. But he claims the two were wearing fugitive recovery jackets the previous times that they knocked on the door to the home.

Brooks said he went up to the same door in the garage the third time and saw a man laying on the couch watching television. He said he could only see a knee and half the man's face.

Brooks said he beat on the door, identifying himself and calling out the name "Frank McConnell."

He then saw the man run to the back of the home.

"Everything is fitting together," Brooks said.

Brooks said he and Swearingen discovered the back sliding glass door was open and entered the home. Brooks claims he called out "Frank McConnell" before going into the home and identified himself as a bounty hunter.

"At no point did he send me away," he said.

Brooks admits to kicking the bathroom door open and told the man to put his hands behind his back.

"I never touched him," Brooks said.

Brooks said at that time, the man told him he was not Frank McConnell and retrieved his driver's license to prove his identity.

Brooks said they immediately left the home and after calling his boss, they went to the police department and were arrested on the burglary charge.

He said that he thought he might face a charge of trespassing or other misdemeanors, but is instead facing felonies.

"I didn't go in the house with the intent to take anything," he said.

VICTIM'S ACCOUNT

The victim told police that about an hour prior to the break-in, two men, without shirts and covered in tattoos, knocked on his door and the victim chose not to answer it.

Shortly before the victim called police, the same two men came back to his home, which was owned by the victim's mother, and the victim heard the sliding door rattle and thought the men were breaking into his home. Police said after the incident that the victim fled to the bathroom, where he locked himself in. The men allegedly kicked in the bathroom door, got in the man's face and were calling him "Frank" McConnell.

The victim, who has a different first name than the wanted man, told police that he was afraid of the men, but thought if he could prove he wasn't Frank they wouldn't hurt him. He showed them his driver's license and the men left.

The victim, who was in his 50s, said the shirtless men had mace, flashlights and handcuffs on their belts.

While Brooks admits that he made a mistake, he said he doesn't think the charge against him is fair since he claims he was under the direction of his employer.

Brooks said he has been advised by his attorney, whom Berglan retained for him, not to go to trial because of the way he looks. But Brooks seems unwilling to end up in prison again.

He admits he has a criminal past and spent time in prison 10 years ago. But Brooks said he has been clean for 10 years and he has been trying to give back to the community.

Brooks, who is also a tattoo artist and has 154 tattoos himself, said that since the incident he and his wife have lost both their vehicles and they are behind on their bills.

"It's not right," he said about the charges and the possibilities he faces.

Two Bondsmen Serve as “Middlemen”

Caddo District Judge Michael Walker and Juvenile Court Judge Vernon Claville corrupted the judicial system by taking bribes in return for favorable rulings in cases before them, federal prosecutors said today in announcing a racketeering indictment against the two men.

Walker's alleged actions included reducing bonds for accused drug dealers to amounts the defendants could make in return for kickbacks, investigators said. Walker, who presides over drug cases, received both money and prescription drugs, investigators said. The bribery began in 2004, the year after Walker went to the drug court, the indictment charged.

Claville allegedly took kickbacks to lift holds so individuals could get out of jail, the indictment charged.

"They are indicted for selling justice," the FBI's Matt Chapman said at a news conference today at the United States Court House in Shreveport.

Walker, 57, took an indefinite leave from the bench today. The Louisiana Supreme Court has been forwarded a copy of the indictment and will decide whether to suspend him while the case is pending.

Claville, 56, also turned over his caseload to another judge and officials of Juvenile Court notified the Supreme Court of the 24-count indictment.

Both men will make their initial court appearances in two weeks.

Neither Walker's attorney, Richard King, nor Claville's lawyer, Ron Miciotto, returned repeated calls for comment.

The investigation, code-named Broken Gavel, centers in large part on whether Walker would take bribes if defendants posted bonds after their bails had been reduced to affordable amounts, prosecutors said. Two bondsmen -- one of whom was indicted -- acted as middlemen, the indictment said.

Walker, who received cash and "other things of value," would make himself available to quickly set bonds, reduce bonds, recall arrest warrants and remove probation holds on accused drug dealers and users, U.S. Attorney Donald Washington said.

Those "other things" were prescription pain killers, investigators said.

Claville, in return for cash, would remove "holds" on people so they could get out of jail, Washington said.

"The fox is out of the hen house," said Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator, whose office initiated the investigation.

Agents obtained wiretaps of Walker's cell phone and agents conducted surveillance of the two judges during the nine-month investigation, sources said.

Also indicted was Shreveport bail bondsman Larry Williams, 41, the owner of A-Instant bail bonds.

The acts alleged in the indictment occurred this year, the grand jury said. The defendants each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted as charged.

Infant Hurt By Bounty Hunter Using a Taser

An infant was hit in the hand by a Taser fired by a bounty hunter, but apparently not shocked, when the child's mother used the infant as a shield, police said.

The mother, whose name was not released, was later arrested for child endangerment.

Preliminary police reports said the bounty hunter had tracked a man to a car at an apartment complex in northwest Oklahoma City Friday night.

"At some point the bounty hunter felt it was necessary to deploy the Taser, and a female in the car apparently held her infant up to shield herself from the Taser," said Sgt. Keith Vance.

One of the Taser probes lodged into the infant's hand, but the child was not shocked, since the other probe missed, Vance said.

Emergency responders were called to the scene about 6:30 p.m. Friday to treat a child with a bloody hand.

During the commotion of the child being hit by the Taser probe, the man, whom police identified as Joe Hawkins, tried to drive away and crashed his car at the complex, Vance said.

After wrecking the car, Hawkins, 28, escaped after he jumped out of the car and ran away, dropping a firearm in the process, police said.

Police also arrested a second, unidentified, woman, who they discovered was listed as an escapee, though it was not clear from where she escaped, Vance said.

The bounty hunter, who also was not identified, apparently did nothing wrong, according to Vance.

"He can certainly use a Taser if he feels there is a need to do so," Vance said.

Bounty Hunters Released

Two would-be bounty hunters roughed up by neighbors and arrested after trying to take a Ferndale woman to court against her will were released from jail Wednesday because they acted within the letter of the law, police said.

Christopher Hight, 52, of Bremen, Ga., was arraigned on a carrying a concealed weapons charge in the incident, but he and his 53-year-old brother from Blountville, Tenn., were both released. He must return for an Oct. 25 preliminary exam on the weapons charge.

Both men were arrested Tuesday after one lured the 48-year-old woman out of her Albany Street home on the pretext of having a cup of coffee and the other jumped from nearby bushes.

Police were called shortly after midnight on a report of the pair dragging the woman to their pickup truck. Neighbors armed with a golf club and baseball bat stopped them from placing her in the vehicle. Hight suffered a head wound in the resulting fracas.

"Everyone did exactly what they were supposed to do," said Lt. William J. Wilson. "The neighbors came to her defense. Someone called police. The police responded quickly and took them into custody.

"Only problem is, the two men were completely within their legal rights in grabbing her."

Inside the truck, police found two loaded .22-caliber handguns, duct tape and plastic "flex cuffs," which they planned to use to tie the woman up for the ride back to Georgia. She was scheduled to appear today in court on a drunken driving and drug possession charge, Wilson said.

This year, Hight, who is related to the woman's cousin, had put up $10,000 bond through a bail bondsman for her to be released and was concerned she did not plan to show up for court, forfeiting bond.

Under Michigan law, in all criminal cases in which people have provided bail and want to be relieved from the responsibility, they can -- with or without police assistance -- arrest or detain the accused and deliver him or her to any jail or to the sheriff of any county. "It's an outdated law, but it's on the books," said Wilson. "They decided to do it all themselves, which is also their right. But it could have had a tragic result."

Bondsman Faces Five Felony Charges

Five felony charges have been filed against a bondsman who attempted to apprehend a bail jumper.

David W. Vinson, of Versailles, was charged with assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, discharging/shooting a firearm at or from a motor vehicle, unlawful use of a weapon and tampering with a motor vehicle in the first degree after events unraveled Friday afternoon.

Czech Penal Code Will be Changed

Czech Justice Minister Jiri Pospisil (Civic Democrats, ODS) today presented a draft new Penal Code that aims at the improvement of the protection of people.

Pospisil said the government might discuss the bill this year and the Chamber of Deputies would thus be able to take a vote on it next year.

The new legislation lowers the age of criminal responsibility from the current 15 to 14 years and toughens the punishment for grievous bodily harm from the current 8 to 12 years. It also toughens the conditions for the convicts' release from prison on bail.

The Justice Ministry has embedded people's proposals in the new version of the bill. Out of the 330 proposals the ministry received 27 found reflection in the legislation, Pospisil said.

The new Penal Code does not address euthanasia. It was mainly the junior governing Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) who emphatically protested against including a law in the new Penal Code that would legalise the practice of ending the life of a person who is terminally ill on his or her own request.

The new legislation will strengthen the position of state attorneys who will no longer be obliged to submit to a court all cases of suspected crimes or offences, but will be able to assess by themselves the extent of their threat to the public.

The current Penal Code was adopted in the 1960s and has been amended many times.

In the past, the Chamber of Deputies discussed the ministry's draft new Penal Code. However, it always rejected the bill and sent it back to the Justice Ministry for reworking.

Two Ex-Bondsmen Charged

Two former bail bondsmen have been sentenced to four months in prison as part of a plea deal in which they admitted to conspiring with a prominent Orange County defense attorney to illegally solicit jail inmates for his law firm.

Alejandro de Jesus Cruz, 35, of Florida, and Jorge Andres Castro, 31, of Aliso Viejo were also sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay $9,000 restitution by Superior Court Judge Carla Singer on Friday.

In February, they pleaded guilty to a pair of felonies, saying that they were paid by Irvine attorney Joseph Cavallo to solicit clients on his behalf. Cruz and Castro operated Xtreme Bail Bonds in Santa Ana between June 2003 and August 2005. They have since lost their licenses because of the case.

Castro's attorney Peter Scalisi called the sentence "a fair and just way to resolve the charges."

Cavallo is scheduled for trial on October 22 on similar felony counts, including conspiracy to commit attorney capping, conspiracy to commit attorney recommendation by a bail licensee and violating a bail license regulation. He has pleaded not guilty.

Cavallo defended the son of a former Orange County assistant sheriff in two high-profile sexual assault cases.

Cruz and Castro may be subpoenaed to testify against Cavallo, said Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh said after Friday's sentencing. Scalisi said Castro would rather not testify against Cavallo, but will if he has to.

Prosecutors allege that Cruz and Castro kept stacks of Cavallo's business cards at Xtreme Bail Bonds and that Castro instructed employees to refer clients to Cavallo in exchange for kickbacks.

State law prohibits bail bond workers from recommending any attorney to a client, even if no money changes hands. The law also prohibits attorneys from paying non-lawyers for client referrals.

New Laws Could Affect Bail, Sentencing for Terror Suspects in Canada

Hassan Almrei is considered a threat to Canada's national security, but the main reason he will now begin his seventh year in custody without trial is that he doesn't have a wife or relative to serve as his warden.

The 33-year-old Syrian and former Toronto resident was denied bail yesterday, making him the only terrorism suspect held on the national security certificate law that the Supreme Court struck down earlier this year.

Four other non-citizens accused of links to al Qaeda and like-minded groups have been released under strict conditions into the care of their spouses and relatives.

But Almrei, who will remain at a Kingston jail dubbed "Guantanamo North" by its critics, is not married and has no family in Canada.

A federal court justice found that the supervision he offered – living in the home of a Toronto supporter with a 75-hour work week – and his willingness to wear a GPS tracking bracelet, were insufficient safeguards to ensure that Almrei would not disappear if released on bail.

"The length of his detention he has now incurred and indeterminate future length of his detention in the future favour his release," Justice François Lemieux wrote in a 49-page ruling released yesterday.

"(But) the proposed conditions of his release will not, on a balance of probabilities, contain or diminish the risk he represents. Therefore, he cannot be released."

Lemieux also said the GPS bracelet could only indicate when Almrei was no longer in his residence but, "before the authorities could apprehend Mr. Almrei, he could and may be long gone."

The government alleges Almrei supports an "al Qaeda ideology," and operated a forgery ring for the terrorist network. Lemieux upheld former court findings that Almrei continued to be a national security risk even though he has been in custody since October 2001.

"Mr. Almrei only revealed his true activities when he felt trapped. He economized the truth," Lemieux wrote.

"A comparison of the confidential information with his testimony demonstrates he continues to hide truth."

The government wants him deported to Syria – but Almrei says he will be tortured or killed if returned.

In a prison interview with the Toronto Star last month, Almrei said he spends most of his days in his cell watching Canada's parliamentary channel CPAC. While he hopes the Canadian public will demand one day that he be brought to trial, he said he still feels great affinity for his adopted country.

"I'm being held under an unconstitutional law.

"I'm not going to say it's really depressing because I'm not depressed. ... Am I happy? No, I'm not happy, but I deal in reality. I come from Syria, I come from Saudi Arabia, I come from dictatorship countries," Almrei said.

Six months ago the Supreme Court stuck down key provisions of the immigration law known as national security certificates, ruling it was unconstitutional because it allowed the government to rely on secret evidence from Canada's spy service, without giving defendants a chance to refute the allegations. Parliament was given one year to amend the law before it's declared invalid. Last weekend Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day told a security conference in Calgary he plans to introduce the new legislation in the fall. Almrei could again be charged under the new system.

Bondsman Must Establish Fugitive Is Dead

A bail bonding company has 60 days to prove a murder suspect is dead or risk losing $350,000 put up to promise the fugitive's appearance in court.

David Coffman, 46, skipped town in September 2006 while facing a first-degree murder charge accusing him of fatally shooting his 47-year-old girlfriend Julie Hall in the back.

In January, police and ABC Bail Bonding received photos of a dead body in the mail that the sender claimed was Coffman's. The photo allegedly was shot during an autopsy conducted in Mexico and the package included copies of Coffman's bank card, credit cards, Social Security card and a photo of his girlfriend said to have been found on the dead man's badly beaten body. It also included fingerprints, which the FBI confirmed were Coffman's.

But Monongalia County Circuit Court Judge Russell Clawges and Prosecutor Marcia Ashdown say that's not good enough.

At a court hearing Tuesday on whether ABC Bail Bonding should forfeit the $350,000 put up for Coffman's bond, Clawges gave the company 60 days to provide dental records or DNA tests that match Coffman to the body.

Ashdown said Wednesday that the body in the photograph "may very well be'' that of Coffman, but it also could be part of "an elaborate hoax.''

Attempts to obtain copies of any police or autopsy reports to validate Coffman's death or have the body returned to West Virginia for testing have been unsuccessful, she said.

"We were told it's not like here, where police document everything,'' she said.

Though ABC Bail Bonding is fully responsible for the bond, Coffman's mother, Gloria Linger, was originally led to believe that she could lose her home if her son skipped out on his bail, Linger's attorney, Lynne Crane of Morgantown, said Wednesday.

Linger has since gone through bankruptcy, but maintains possession of her home, according to bankruptcy records filed in the Northern District of U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The $350,000 bond "was an unsecured debt. There was no lien on her property,'' Crane said.

Police said Coffman shot Hall over the Memorial Day weekend in 2006 after she told him she was leaving him.

Coffman was last seen at a Mount Morris, Pa., truck stop, where his Jeep was found in late September 2006. Police think he likely caught a ride south with a truck driver.

Their attention turned to Mexico after Coffman's bank account was tapped in Mexico City.

A call to the bonding company's attorney, David Jividen of Wheeling, was not immediately returned.