Bounty hunters nab man who allegedly faked being a cop
By Liz Kellar
Staff Writer,
Paul David Riggie, arrested on suspicion of impersonating a police officer after county sheriff’s deputies found a gun and law enforcement gear at his home, landed back in jail Sunday after his bail bond company revoked his bail.
Bail recovery agents swarmed the Grass Valley man’s Restive Way home at about 6 a.m. Sunday after he was deemed a flight risk.
Apart from the arrest, the allegations against Riggie pose larger questions:
Riggie, 44, says he has the gear and guns because he was working as a bail recovery agent, commonly called a bounty hunter. But one of the allegations against him is being a convicted felon in possession of firearms, Sheriff Keith Royal said.
That felony conviction would disqualify him under California law from entering the business.
“This is the type of person who puts my industry in jeopardy,” said Troy Posas, a licensed bounty hunter who works for the bail bond company that provided Riggie’s bond. “Bounty hunters are not bad people, but when you get someone like Mr. Riggie doing what he was doing, it makes us all look bad.”
Riggie had put up a camera and a watch as collateral for $41,000 bail on charges of being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, possessing a firearm after being served a domestic violence restraining order with a firearms provision, being an ex-felon in possession of ammunition, possession of marijuana with the intent to sell, impersonating a peace officer and driving on a suspended license.
But because of fears that he would jump bail, he was told he needed to put up an additional $3,000 in cash. When he failed to do so, his bail was revoked in an order that came Friday.
Riggie, 44, was first arrested on the latest charges Nov. 26 after Nevada County sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant on his home.
Deputies seized a .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun; clothing and gear associated with law enforcement including shirts marked “Sheriff” and “Police;” and tactical vests, badges and forged documents. They also seized more than 2 pounds of marijuana, both packaged and ready to be processed, scales and $2,000 in cash.
In an interview with The Union, Riggie denied the allegation he is a convicted felon and said he never has had a restraining order against him. He also said he is a repossession and bail recovery agent, and that is why he was in possession of guns and law enforcement gear.
Tangled story
The whole thing started when his two dogs were shot by a neighbor in late November, Riggie said. One, a puppy, allegedly was killed and buried on the neighbor’s property. The other, a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Maxx, was shot several times in the head and body, but survived.
What happened next remains in dispute.
Riggie said he went over to the neighbor’s house “in uniform” because he had just returned from a vehicle repossession. He said he screamed at the neighbor, asking him why he had shot the animals.
When a sheriff’s deputy came by Riggie’s house to warn him to stay away from the neighbor, the deputy noticed the law enforcement clothing, gun and paperwork associated with his repo and bail recovery business, Riggie said.
Two days later, investigators served the search warrant and arrested him.
The gear and the gun, Riggie said, are legitimate tools of his trade. He said he has been working in bail bond recovery and vehicle repossession for 18 years as a side job to his contracting business.
“I do the repos the other guys can’t get, in West Sacramento, the real bad ones,” Riggie said. “I’ve been shot, I’ve been stabbed repoing cars. ... They get me out there when stuff happens, because the regular recovery systems can’t do this.”
But Posas, the bounty hunter who brought Riggie back to jail, said there is no way Riggie could be a legitimate bail recovery or repossession agent, because he is a convicted felon.
And he has a far different version of Riggie’s initial arrest.
Posas, whose Citrus Heights business, Central Valley Fugitive Recovery, contracts with McMains Bail Bonds in Nevada County, said he initially was hired to bring Riggie in on Nov. 22 for failing to appear on several traffic warrants, including driving on a suspended license and having false registration information.
While at Riggie’s house, Posas said, he saw a badge that said “Lieutenant, Metropolitan Police.” When questioned, Riggie told Posas he was a bail recovery agent, but could not provide any documentation.
“I asked him if he had any firearms in his house, and he replied, ‘Yes, one over on the table,’ ” Posas said.
Another recovery agent then found a raid vest, a radio and a scale.
“I knew then that we had stumbled on something more that what we originally came for,” Posas said.
Not like Dog
While en route to the jail, Riggie told Posas he also was a Truckee reserve police officer — an impossibility given his outstanding warrants, Posas said.
For one thing, recovery agents cannot wear clothing that might mislead the public into believing they are peace officers.
And while a firearms certification class is optional, there is no record of Riggie applying for a gun permit or to become a repossession agent.
The television show “Dog the Bounty Hunter” has popularized the work of bail bond recovery agents, but most viewers don’t know Hawaii, where the show is filmed, regulates the trade very loosely.
In California, bail recovery agents are required to take an arrest search and seizure class through the Peace Officers Standards and Training Academy. It is not clear whether Riggie has taken the 40-hour class.
And in California, convicted felons cannot become licensed as bounty hunters or repossession agents.
“I don’t have a record,” Riggie insisted in an interview Friday. “I haven’t had a record in over 20 years. I had a speeding ticket. I have never had a felony. They said I was evading police on a dirt bike in 1998, at Camp Far West.”
According to Riggie, that was a misdemeanor, not a felony. Sheriff’s Office records show a felony conviction in another county, Royal said. Posas said the felony conviction was in Yuba County in 1998.
Riggie also denied he was selling marijuana.
“I had marijuana here that I have a ‘scrip’ for,” he said, “They took it all and wrote me up for sales.”
Riggie, who added he has offered to take a lie detector test, said the charges have ruined his life.
“My neighbors are all scared to death of me. They’re avoiding me like the plague,” he said. “I’m sad. I’m just really sad. All I really care about is my animals.”
Riggie is scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 18; he said he hopes to get the charges dropped.
To contact Staff Writer Liz Kellar, e-mail
lkellar@theunion.com or call 477-4229.
And he made bail for a 3rd time on this case!
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