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Bondsman charged in death plot
By Peter Shinkle
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
10/26/2005
A bail bondsman with multiple criminal convictions of his own is accused of conspiring to murder another bondsman over a long-simmering business conflict between the two St. Charles County men.
Virgil L. Jackson was arrested on charges that he tried to get a federal informer to kill Gerald W. Cox, a former state representative who is the owner and president of Cox Bail Bonds.
On Wednesday, a state official acknowledged that the Department of Insurance has permitted convicted felons to obtain licenses to work as bail bondsmen, despite Supreme Court rules that arguably bar them from doing so. "That may be something we review in the future," department spokesman Matt Barton said.
Despite felony convictions for burglary, illegal use of a weapon and robbery, Jackson still has a state license as a bondsman. The department is deciding how to respond to his arrest, Barton said.
Neither Jackson, 65, of the 1200 block of Begonia Drive in O'Fallon, nor his attorney nor Cox could be reached for comment. Cox was not harmed.
A criminal complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis charges Jackson with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The affidavit supporting that complaint spells out a conflict that began on Dec. 31, 2004, when Jackson allegedly went to Cox's home in St. Charles, where Cox and his wife were sitting on a patio. Cox sent his wife into the house.
Jackson pulled out a gun and began complaining that Cox was the reason why Jackson could not obtain bail bond business in St. Charles County and St. Louis County, according to the affidavit. Jackson had been told that Cox informed authorities that Jackson's "surety" was a "fraud," the affidavit says.
Cox persuaded Jackson not to shoot him "by promising to make things right," says the affidavit by Theodore Heitzler, an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The affidavit does not spell out details of the fraud claim.
Jackson has a string of convictions: burglary in 1959, burglary in 1967, forcibly breaking into a post office in 1971, and first-degree robbery in 1984. Even so, he received a license from the Missouri Department of Insurance in 1996 to act as a bondsman. That license is set to expire in 2007, the department said.
For a fee, bail bondsmen post the money that permits criminal defendants to be released from jail pending trial. That money is forfeited if the defendant fails to appear. A bondsman must have sufficient assets to withstand a client's default. Some pay insurance companies to become "general agents," in effect allowing them to write policies guaranteeing payment.
The Missouri Supreme Court has a rule that prohibits convicted felons from being a "surety" on a bail bond. The insurance department has interpreted that to apply only to general agents. However, another Supreme Court rule states that the same ban on felons applies to any agent working for a bail bond company.
Kathyrn Turner, senior counsel in the insurance department, acknowledged Wednesday that the ban appeared to apply broadly to all bondsmen. "That looks like what it says, yeah," she said.
She said there had been a "decision from the legal section not to apply it."
In January, Jackson complained that Cox had told the Missouri Department of Insurance about the fraudulent "surety portion" of Jackson's business, the affidavit says, which could cause Jackson to lose his license.
Jackson told the informer that "Jerry Cox needs a bullet in his head," the affidavit says.
Seven months later, in August, Jackson complained to a second ATF informer about Cox, and asked if the informer could get explosives and a detonator for use against Cox, the affidavit says.
Jackson had applied for a license as a general agent in February, and on Sept. 23 the department denied his application, pointing to his criminal convictions as a violation of the Supreme Court rule. The department let him continue working as a bail bond agent, however.
Heitzler's affidavit then gives this account of how the plot evolved:
Five days after the department's decision, on Sept. 28, Jackson called the second informer and said of Cox, "I should have shot him when I had the chance."
On Oct. 19, the first informer made a recorded call to Jackson, and Jackson discussed killing Cox and asked the first informer to meet him at a restaurant in St. Charles.
After lunch, Jackson rode in the informer's car past the Cox Bail Bonds office, and "they discussed how (the informant) will ambush Cox and shoot Cox after Cox watched Monday Night Football and left his business."
After additional conversations about the plot, Jackson met on Monday with the informer at the restaurant and discussed the gun to be used in the killing; Jackson said he would have someone deliver "the item."
Later Monday, Jackson called the informer to meet him at a gas station at the intersection of T.R. Hughes Boulevard and Interstate 70. When the informer arrived, Jackson directed attention to a nearby patch of woods. There, the informer found a paper bag holding a .38 caliber revolver and 10 rounds of ammunition.
Authorities arrested Jackson about 8:30 Monday night, as the Monday Night Football game was under way, according to the U.S. attorney's office
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