California Bounty Hunter in Hot Water

Bounty Wars Reality Star Arrested for Embezzlement
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Arturo Alfred Torres of Bounty Wars Fame Popped for Alleged Embezzlement of $18,000
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_________________
Jason Pollock
Owner/Operator
Surety Risk Management
Los Angeles, California
(323) 786-FIND

"Approach is Everything."

Collateral is of course refundable under certain conditions.

Those conditions are spelled out in the contract which is signed by all involved... bondsman, indemnitor and defendant (at least in my neck of the woods it is like that)

Those conditions vary I am sure but usually it basically says that all bonding conditions are met and no other charges are incurred and sometimes other conditions as stipulated in the contract and sometimes on the court documents... usually the recognizance, which all have a copy.

Even though the charges are exonerated in the end... conditions still have to be met along the way...

Example... a defendant misses court or has other charges filed against him/her during the time he is on bond with you... those are violations of conditions and even though the original case may be exonerated... the stipulated conditions were violated and in some instances that could cause the collateral to be forfeited.

I'm not saying anything like this happened... I am simply stating possibilities.

I have had exactly the same thing happen and in my cases... I will sometimes keep a portion of the collateral but still return some... at my discretion...

Here is one of the lines in my contract...

"_____ 7. I understand that any collateral placed with the bonding company cannot be released until all charges involved have been finalized by the court/courts involved, we must wait for the appeals process to end before returning your collateral; normally 10 days. Collateral in full, or a portion thereof, may be forfeited if the bond is violated or the conditions are not met. Any additional charges or fees will be deducted from the collateral amount."

That leaves a lot of grey area but I usually return all unless I incurred a cost involved with whatever condition was violated... for example if an FTA occurred and I had to go to court, even if the bond was eventually exonerated... I will take a portion of the collateral as my fee for going to court... which is also stipulated in my contract...

Just saying... we don't know the details of this case and even a "snake in the grass" is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty...

_________________
Bill Marx, Sr.
"FREE STATE BAIL BONDS"
"FREE STATE INVESTIGATIONS"
DCJS: 99-176979
Cell: 434-294-0222

"Endeavor to Persevere" "Lone Watie"

"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that , comes from bad judgment" "Will Rogers"

If and I say if most of the details are true, then were several violations of the Insurance Code.

1) All bail premium most be deposited into a separate "bail premium trust account."
2) All collateral must be deposited into a separate "bail collateral trust account."
3) It does not state anywhere that Torres is a licensed bail agent. A search of the DOI website does not show him with valid bail agent license. Another violation.
4) No one but a licensed bail agent can negotiate an undertaking of bail.

Again if what is reported is true, the bail agent that actually posted the bail bond, could also face charges.

1) Paying an unlicensed person a bail commission. In this case as reported, Torres took the whole premium.
2) The bail agent may not have reported to his surety the posting of the bail bond as it appears that Torres took the whole bail premium and again, he is not licensed.

If any or all of this is true, they sure picked the wrong county to work in. Its Bob Tafts county!

... and we know who Bob Taft is...

My response was related to the bondsman's contract wording and how it applied to the collateral... it had nothing to do with violations of the BOI or state bail code...

That is another completely different area.

_________________
Bill Marx, Sr.
"FREE STATE BAIL BONDS"
"FREE STATE INVESTIGATIONS"
DCJS: 99-176979
Cell: 434-294-0222

"Endeavor to Persevere" "Lone Watie"

"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that , comes from bad judgment" "Will Rogers"

Again Torres is not a licensed bail as far as I was able to determine. So, he had no right to begin with to accept the bail payment and collateral.

Secondly, premium and collateral has to be paid by two separate checks, not one for $20K. The bail agent involved here should have known that. But since it appears they were both acting illegally, they probably thought the defendant and his mother would not file a complaint.

According to the story, the defendant did not fta or incur any other chargeable fees, so the entire $18K should have been returned immediately.

CA Title 10 of Insurance Code states:

2088.2. Return of Collateral
Any collateral received shall be returned to the person who deposited it with the bail licensee or to any assignee of such person, other than the bail licensee or his representative, as soon as he is advised that the obligation, the satisfaction of which was secured by the collateral, is discharged. It is the duty of the bail licensee or surety insurer to determine promptly whether such obligation has been discharged upon
request for return of the collateral by the person depositing it or by his assignee. If the collateral was deposited to secure the obligation of a bond, it shall be returned immediately upon the entry of any order by an authorized official by virtue of which liability under the bond is terminated. If any licensee or surety insurer which has custody of the collateral fails to take promptly any action necessary to secure the
termination of such liability, he shall return such collateral immediately upon the accrual of any right to secure an order of termination of liability.

This story breaks my heart as I have worked with Art in the past with excellent results on the recovery side of the business. I hope that all of this is proven false and he can continue with his life. I cannot speak to his status as a bondsman, as I used him in a recovery capacity in the late 1980's and early 1990's.

Scott

_________________
R.E. "Scott" MacLean III

"Leaders are like Eagles, you never see them in a flock, but one at a time"

Chesapeake Group Investigations, Inc.
Chesapeake Bail Bonds
877-574-0500
301-392-1100 (fax)
301-392-1900 (Office)

Update on this story?????????????

_________________
Bill Marx, Sr.
"FREE STATE BAIL BONDS"
"FREE STATE INVESTIGATIONS"
DCJS: 99-176979
Cell: 434-294-0222

"Endeavor to Persevere" "Lone Watie"

"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that , comes from bad judgment" "Will Rogers"

I haven't heard so much as a peep about it since then...

_________________
Jason Pollock
Owner/Operator
Surety Risk Management
Los Angeles, California
(323) 786-FIND

"Approach is Everything."