The Bail Bonds Blog!

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Prison audit finds workers' misconduct with inmates - BailNow keeps you OUT of jail so this won't happen to YOU!

The 278 disciplinary cases occurring over six months involve smuggling contraband, sex with prisoners and ignoring or arranging assaults.

SACRAMENTO — A catalog of recent misconduct cases in California's corrections system includes allegations that prison guards groped and grappled with inmates, brought them drugs, shared their booze and solicited them for sex.

The two-volume report, issued this week by the independent Office of Inspector General, chronicles 278 disciplinary cases the watchdog agency monitored from July to December 2012.

The report includes numerous allegations of prison workers delivering drugs and mobile phones to inmates, having sex with them and turning a blind eye to or even arranging inmate assaults. Some cases were dismissed or handled administratively; others were turned over to county prosecutors.

In one alleged coverup involving seven prison officials, a guard accepted an inmate's challenge to a fistfight, stripped off his prison gear and began a fight that was ultimately broken up by another guard's baton, the report says. Afterward, the guard allegedly staged an assault by the inmate to "fabricate a legitimate reason for the injuries he suffered earlier."

The guard was charged with six felony counts. He pleaded no contest to reduced misdemeanor charges. He and three other officers lost their jobs over the incident and two other prison officials took pay cuts.

The inspector general's report includes four alleged cases of corrections officers ordering assaults on inmates, including a parole agent accused of soliciting a parolee to murder another parolee. That April 2012 incident remains under investigation.

In other cases, the independent reviewers criticize the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for long delays in investigating alleged misconduct. Internal investigators took nearly a year to file a report on a security chief — accused of sexual relations with inmates in a juvenile facility — while he was allowed him to remain on paid leave.

The office of inspector general, however, praised the corrections department for improving its reporting of discipline cases. But it said gains still need to be made in the southern part of the state, where the handling of nearly a third of all disciplinary reports was still deemed "insufficient."

The twice yearly reports by the inspector general are the offshoot of court cases against the corrections department involving use of force and the care of inmates.

The public airing of internal investigations, whose files remain confidential, is part of what department spokeswoman Terry Thornton called "the most transparent employee investigation and disciplinary process in the nation." She said it reflects a "model internal affairs investigation and employee disciplinary process that is fair, consistent and transparent."

She also said the vast majority of the corrections department's "more than 46,000 employees are hard-working and professional."

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Thursday, April 4, 2013

2 charged in kidnap, assault of California girl - BailNowSanDiegoCounty.com - 1-877-700-BAIL (2245)

The knifepoint kidnapping and sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl started as a burglary, until the suspect apparently changed his mind and took the child from her San Fernando Valley bedroom, police said.

New details in the case were released Wednesday along with charges against 30-year-old Tobias Summers, who remains a fugitive.

Summers was charged with kidnapping burglary and nearly three dozen counts of sexual assault. If convicted, he faces multiple life terms in prison.

His alleged accomplice Daniel Martinez, 29, was also charged in the kidnapping Wednesday. He was in custody after his Monday arrest.

According to police, Summers broke into the house in the middle of the night March 27 while Martinez waited in a getaway car. Summers emerged from the home with the girl and they both got in the car.

Martinez drove a short distance and then abandoned the vehicle and disappeared. Summers took the girl to a vacant home nearby where he held her captive, police said.

At some point, according to a criminal complaint, Summers sexually assaulted her and forced her to pose for nude photos. The girl turned up about 12 hours later after the harrowing ordeal, disoriented and disheveled.

Police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said it was unclear why Summers abducted the girl but investigators don't believe he had targeted her when he initially went to the home.

Martinez was charged with one count each of kidnapping and burglary. He faces a maximum 12-year prison term if found guilty. A phone message left for deputy public defender Robert Kayne was not immediately returned.

The girl was snatched from her bedroom and was found wandering near a Starbucks about six miles away. She was barefoot, had bruises and scratches, and wasn't wearing the same clothes she had on when she vanished.

Both men have had problems with law enforcement in the past. Summers has a criminal record dating back to 2002 that includes arrests for robbery, battery and grand theft auto. Court records show Martinez has been convicted of burglary and grand theft.

Police have received more than 130 tips in recent days regarding Summers, who they believe may have fled to San Diego or Mexico and changed his appearance by shaving his head.

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Monday, April 1, 2013

Man, woman allegedly forced girl, 14, to be prostitute in O.C. - BailNow has been busy in The OC! BailNowOrangeCounty.com

The alleged pimp and his suspected accomplice are the first in the county to be charged with human trafficking since the adoption of tougher penalties.

A man and a woman who allegedly forced a 14-year-old runway to walk the streets near Knott's Berry Farm as a prostitute have been charged under a recently approved law that toughens penalties for human trafficking.
Under the new law, Chuncey Tarae Garcia, 33, could face life in prison if convicted of human trafficking of a minor by force or fear. He and Cierra Melissa Robinson, 27, Garcia's alleged accomplice, are in the first wave of people in California and the first in Orange County to be charged with human trafficking since the state's adoption of Proposition 35.
Garcia is accused of being a pimp and teaming with Robinson, who prosecutors say worked for him as his highest-ranking prostitute. A court appearance Friday was continued to April 3.Robinson is accused of introducing the 14-year-old girl to Garcia late last month in another state, said Daniel Varon, a deputy district attorney. He would not say how or where they met.
Garcia and Robinson are accused of taking the girl to a motel room where they told the teen that she would now be working for them as a prostitute. The next day, Garcia and Robinson allegedly drove the girl to California.
The 14-year-old was forced to walk Beach Boulevard in Buena Park — identified by authorities as a high-prostitution area — to attract customers and given a $200 a day quota she had to meet, Varon said.
The girl was trained in the "rules" of prostitution by Garcia and Robinson and was told how much to charge for various sex acts, prosecutors said. Garcia is accused of posting ads featuring the girl on prostitution websites.
The girl was ordered to dress a certain way and was assigned to sit in the back driver's side seat of Garcia's black late-model Mercedes. She was ordered to address Garcia as "Daddy" or "Sir" and was prohibited from looking at black men because Garcia told her they might also be pimps and could interpret her look as an invitation to take her money, prosecutors said.
If the girl didn't make enough money, Garcia threatened to withhold her meals. He is also accused of raping the girl after her first day as a prostitute.
On March 1, prosecutors say, a Garden Grove police officer pulled over a car in a high-prostitution area because it had a broken headlight. Garcia, who was driving the vehicle, had a suspended license, authorities said. The officer became suspicious after he peered into the back seat and saw the girl.
"He could tell that she was underage," Varon said.
The officer later identified the girl as a missing person, and she was taken into protective custody. Garcia and Robinson were arrested at the scene.
Garcia has been charged with felony counts of human trafficking of a minor by force or fear, pimping a minor and forcible rape, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. Robinson has been charged with felony counts of human trafficking of a minor and pandering of a minor under 16 by procuring. She was also charged with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
If convicted, Garcia faces a maximum sentence of 28 years to life in prison. Robinson would face a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison. Both are being held in lieu of $1-million bail.
In November, California voters passed Proposition 35, which increased the maximum sentence for human trafficking of a minor by force or fear to 15 years to life in state prison, compared with eight years in state prison previously, according to prosecutors.

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

O.C. boxing coach gets 2 years for sexually assaulting teens - BailNowOrangeCounty.com

BailNow would bail this guy out (we guess!)

A 45-year-old Orange County boxing coach was convicted Friday and sentenced to two years in state prison for sexually assaulting two 14-year-old boys that he met at a Santa Ana boxing club, prosecutors said.

Anthony Serrano of Santa Ana pleaded guilty to four felony counts of lewd acts on a child, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney's office. In addition to his prison sentence, Serrano will have to register as a lifetime sex offender.

Prosecutors said that Serrano sexually assaulted two boys while working as a coach at the Santa Ana Boxing Club.

The first boy, according to prosecutors, was assaulted several times between May and October of 2006 in Serrano's home.

The assault was reported in 2008, but the case was not filed then because of "insufficient corroboration," prosecutors said.

The second victim reported allegations of sexual abuse to Santa Ana police in the summer of 2012. In that case, prosecutors said the boy was assaulted on more than one occasion at Serrano's home between May 2011 and April 2012.

In the sentencing hearing on Friday, the second victim, according to the district attorney's office statement, told the court of the repercussions of the abuse, including needing therapy to overcome the trauma

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Former GJ bond bailsman say government pushed him out - better not be a growing trend!

District Attorney Pete Hautzinger says there's still a place for them in Mesa County, but one former bondsman says government pushed him out. Mr. C's Bail Bonds is closed for business these days.
"This is not Colorado, this is not America anymore," former owner Bob Cunningham said.
Its former owners are tying up loose ends and planning to get out of Colorado. Cunningham says this could be the end of his career as a bail bondsman. "Several have left already,” Cunningham said. “I don't know how many are hanging on now." The reason, he says, is because of politics. "Its private sector versus big government," Cunningham said. Cunningham says Mesa County has replaced bail bondsmen with Pretrial Services, a program he argues doesn't guarantee the defendants will appear for their court dates.
"Who can keep the community safer, who could keep the cost downand who could do that best?” Cunningham asked. “The bail bondsmen, that's who." District Attorney Pete Hautzinger says the bail bonds industry has always resented the idea of government providing any kind of supervision.
Hautzinger says, "I don't care who's making a profit or who's making a living or not. I care about what protects our community." He says Pretrial Services gets that job done.
"If they're not going to be in jail I want them to have an EHM bracelet on, be doing random urinalysis, peeing in a jar, and blowing into machines. All of which are things that bail bondsmen can't offer their clients,” Hautzinger said. “I feel a lot safer with Pretrial doing to the looking after."
Still, the D.A. hopes to keep the bondsmen industry alive in Mesa County, saying he'd like it to work side by side with Pretrial services. "I would rather have somebody both post a bond with a bail bondsman and do Pretrial Services," Hautzinger said. Cunningham and his wife may be moving to South Dakota, likely ending their careers.
"We’re a dying breed," Cunningham said.
Meanwhile, only time will tell how bondsmen and Pretrial Services can coexist in Mesa County.

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Monday, March 25, 2013

Pasadena theft victim could face 18 months for 911 call - he should get more!

His lawyer says misdemeanor charges over his statement that the robber had a gun were meant to deflect blame from the police who killed the suspect.

The 911 caller who falsely claimed that he was robbed at gunpoint the night Pasadena police shot and killed unarmed 19-year-old robbery suspect Kendrec McDade is due in court Tuesday to face misdemeanor charges that he lied to emergency dispatchers.
Oscar Carrillo, 27, is charged with one count of making a false report of a criminal offense and a second count of reporting an emergency knowing the report was false, a Pasadena city spokesman said.
If convicted on both counts, Carrillo faces a maximum sentence of 18 months in jail, his defense attorney, Andres Bustamante, told the Pasadena Sun.
Carrillo, who has already pleaded not guilty to the charges, is scheduled to return to court Tuesday for a pretrial hearing.
The city prosecutor's office filed the charges after the Los Angeles County district attorney's office declined a request by Pasadena police to charge him with manslaughter.
Bustamante accused the city of prosecuting Carrillo as a way to redirect responsibility for McDade's death.
"I think they're deflecting," Bustamante said. "It seems to me the city feels obligated that [Carrillo] must take some kind of responsibility. Their position has always been that he set in motion certain events that led to the tragic shooting of this African American teenager."
An internal review of the shooting incident, announced Wednesday, determined that the two Pasadena police officers who shot McDade during the robbery investigation one year ago acted "within departmental policy."
And in December, an investigation by the Los Angeles County district attorney's Justice System Integrity Division concluded that the officers had "a reasonable fear of imminent death or serious bodily injury" and "acted in lawful self-defense and defense of others" in shooting McDade.
Investigations by the Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review and the FBI remain ongoing, according to police.

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Friday, March 22, 2013

Bobby Brown wearing ankle monitor for DUI sentence - Bobby B should've checked The BailNow FB Page for DUI Checkpoints!

Bobby Brown, photographed in 2007. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

Singer Bobby Brown is now being monitored by an electronic ankle bracelet as he serves his 55-day sentence in connection with a DUI conviction, sheriff's officials said.
Brown reported to court on Wednesday to begin serving his jail sentence and four years of informal probation.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said Brown was likely to serve no more than nine days in County Jail because of overcrowding, as well as time off for good behavior and credit for "good time work time." But Whitmore also noted the sentence could be influenced by his county probation officials.
Brown ended up serving just eight hours in jail before being released.
Brown, a onetime member of the singing group New Edition who also had a solo career, pleaded no contest in February to a DUI charge, one of two such charges last year for the singer.
Whitmore said it was the Probation Department's decision to place Brown on an electronic ankle bracelet. The exact requirements were not available, Whitmore said, but inmates typically cannot travel outside their homes for the time they are under electronic monitoring.
In addition to the jail time for pleas related to drunk driving, driving on a suspended license and a probation violation for a prior DUI incident, Brown also must complete an 18-month alcohol-treatment program and attend three Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week.
Brown, ex-husband of the late Whitney Houston, had been sentenced to a day in jail and three years' probation for the March 26, 2012, arrest, which took place in the San Fernando Valley after California Highway Patrol officers allegedly spotted him talking on his cellphone while driving.
The second arrest, also in the Valley, took place Oct. 24.

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