SANTA ANA – A bail bond agent pleaded not guilty Friday in a scheme involving multiple co-defendants to illegally solicit dozens of Orange County Jail inmates as clients in one of the biggest such cases in Orange County.
Cynthia Cheryl Shirey, 42, of Brea is charged with multiple felony counts, including violating bail license regulations by permitting an unlicensed person to solicit and negotiate bail bonds on her behalf, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors have filed 148 counts among eight co-defendants in the case, six of whom were in custody for other crimes during the time the scheme unfolded.
If convicted on all counts, Shirey faces a maximum sentence of 23 years in state prison. She was expected to post $20,000 bail Friday afternoon.
Shirey, a licensed bail bond agent at Plotkin Bail Bonds in Santa Ana worked with Ernesto Perez, 36, of Burbank, also employed by the same company but not a licensed bail bondsman, to solicit inmates at the jail using other inmates, prosecutors said.
Among other charges, she is accused of permitting her unlicensed co-defendants to illegally solicit and negotiate bail bonds on her behalf with inmates, according to a district attorney news release.
The eight co-defendants in the case were connected to the scheme during an 18-month investigation by the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
"The illegal soliciting of inmates by unscrupulous bail bond agents will not be tolerated in our facilities," Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said in a statement.
From Aug. 5, 2010, to March 15, Perez plotted with six of the defendants already in jail to solicit other inmates to contact him to provide their bail, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors say here's how the plan worked: Perez was the main contact for all the inmates and they'd call him for others they solicited. He'd then illegally negotiate on the telephone with the inmates. At times, Shirey would do the negotiations. She would then visit the inmates in jail to get an agreement signed.
Prosecutors are not alleging that Shirey was involved in every transaction Perez was involved in or vice-versa.
When visiting inmates in jail, bail bond agents are required to complete a bail bonds visitation request form, intended to prevent unscrupulous agents from gaining access to the jail to engage in illegal client recruitment, according to a news release from the District Attorney's Office.
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