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Bail agent: Teen charged in attack planned to leave U.S.
By PAT GROSSMITH
Union Leader Staff
Manchester — A teenager accused of hitting a man in the head with a baseball bat is still in jail because his bail bondsman received a tip he was leaving the country and pulled his bail.
Sheri Davis, an agent with Denis Bail Bonds of Raymond, said she called Lawrence Barbosa, 18, of 19 S. Lincoln St., and his sister after receiving the tip. Both telephone numbers were disconnected, she said.
Earlier this month, Hillsborough County prosecutor Lisa Drescher asked the court to revoke Barbosa’s bail because he did not report to probation as required.
On Jan. 13, Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Carol Ann Conboy refused to revoke it after a hearing.
But the bail company decided against reinstating the bail.
Davis said Barbosa and his sister signed a contract requiring them to notify the company of any change in telephone numbers or address. Other information the pair provided also did not check out.
She hired Hadley Dorfman of Hooksett, a licensed bail enforcement agent.
Dorfman said Denis Bail Bonds and Gilberti Bail Bonds of Manchester had each put up $50,000 for Barbosa’s $100,000 bail.
He said both companies received tips Barbosa had plans to leave the country.
Dorfman said he learned Barbosa was traveling on a daily basis to Lawrence, Mass., where he has “a lot of girlfriends and relatives,” despite a bail condition that barred him from leaving the state.
He and Lance Wilkinson, another licensed bounty hunter hired by Gilberti, both learned Barbosa planned to leave the country.
They then conducted surveillance of Barbosa’s home. They never saw him leave or enter, Dorfman said. Barbosa, he said, maintained he was in the house the entire time. Then they checked with probation to see if he was reporting as required and found out he was not.
Ultimately, Dorfman and Wilkinson found Barbosa on Dec. 29 at the South Lincoln Street house and coaxed him out of it.
In court records, defense attorney Gerard R. Laflamme Jr. of Haverhill, Mass., said Barbosa was never told he was to report weekly to probation.
After his arraignment in Manchester District Court, Laflamme said Barbosa was returned to the Valley Street jail and, before receiving a copy of bail conditions imposed by the court, he posted bail.
Laflamme said when Barbosa was released from jail after his arraignment, either through miscommunication or clerical error, he was not told by the bondsmen of the weekly reporting requirement.
The defense attorney said when he learned his client had not reported, he immediately contacted Barbosa, told him to go to probation and he did.
Davis disputes the defense attorney’s account of what happened. She said, however, she was present when the bail commissioner explained the conditions of bail to Barbosa, which included reporting weekly to probation.
Davis said after Barbosa was picked up and jailed, she received another call from an investigator who said it was a good thing she revoked his bail. Barbosa, she was told, had plans to leave the country.
This is only the second time in six years Davis has revoked somebody’s bail.
She said bondsmen do not need a reason to revoke bail, but her company will not do it without one.
“I can tell you I have never ever revoked anybody’s bail just because I felt like it,” Davis said.
Barbosa still is bailable.
“If you had $100,000, you could bail him today, but the fact is he can’t be trusted,” Dorfman said.
Barbosa is charged with first-degree assault in the Aug. 11 baseball bat attack on Stephen Raymond, then 41 and of 402 Auburn St. Raymond, who is in a Boston rehabilitation hospital, is a quadriplegic, a result of the injuries he suffered.
Barbosa’s trial is to begin Feb. 21.
_________________
Lance Allen Wilkinson
Recoveries by L.A.W.
Serving since 1984
“What is sought is found... what is overlooked escapes” (Oedipus Rex)
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