Bondsmen Key component of criminal justice system
By: Wally Bunker
08/30/2006
In the darkness of one May night, Ronnie Lee stood at the front door of a mobile home off Route 15. His wife Nora stood near the back door. This was the bail bond team hoped to capture a fugitive who failed to appear in court after the Lees bonded him from jail.
The man came outside and gave up peacefully. Mr. Lee, 46, allowed him to go back inside to get his shoes. Instead, the man ran out the back door.
Mrs. Lee, 41, shined a flashlight in the man's eyes and ordered him to stop. She reached for him as he ran past her.
"I broke a nail," she said, laughing. "I was so mad."
The bondsman
Who: Ronnie Lee
Age: 46
What: Provides collateral to the court to secure the release of accused and guarantee the appearance subjects charged with offenses from jail prior to trial.
Job: 10 years as a bail bondsman recently joined by his wife Nora; also works for Larry Levy.
Fee: Charges 10 percent of bond set by the court or magistrate; $25 fee added for late night service.
Education: Culpeper County High School, 1977; attended Germanna Community Colleg for two years.
Certifications: Licensed by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services as a bondsman with a firearms endorsement.
Family: Wife, Nora; daughters, Kimberly, 25 and Cassandra, 13; son, Chad 24.
Hobbies: Target shooting; drag racing
Phone: 825-4000
She also shot pepper spray at the man as he fled into the darkness and into a nearby thicket. An hour later, the Lees had their man - scratched and bleeding from the briers that concealed him.
Mr. Lee and his wife operate in a gray area that helps accused criminals awaiting trial remain free but infuriates victims who see a "criminal" loose on the streets.
Mr. Lee views his job as having a positive impact on families of those accused of a crime. Release from jail prior to trial, allows the breadwinner to work and support his family. Families sometimes suffer because someone made bad choices.
"The kids aren't going school shopping, if daddy's in jail," said Mr. Lee.
State law defines circumstances under which bail is appropriate. Only people charged with crimes punishable by life in prison or the death penalty are not eligible for bond. The judge or magistrate must look into several factors when setting bond:
The nature and circumstances of the crime.
Whether a gun was used.
The weight of the evidence.
The financial resources of the accused and ability to pay bond.
The character of the accused, family ties, education and employment.
Appearance in court and possibility of fleeing.
Length of residency in the community.
Whether they pose a threat to the community or obstruct the legal process.
And any other relevant information.
Once a bond has been set, people like the Lees step in. They charge about 10 percent of the bond as a fee for guaranteeing the accused persons appearance in court.
"Everybody has a role," said Culpeper General District Court Judge Roger Morton. "If we didn't have a bonding system that worked in a reasonable capacity, everybody would be in jail."
The judge also said that appearance in court isn't the only part of the bond. Those on bond are expected to be on good behavior.
Judge Morton has a simple philosophy when setting some bonds.
"If your mother won't bond you out," he said. "I can't let you out."
The judge looks at the financial impact to county taxpayers keeping someone behind bars awaiting trial and the economic impact on the family of the accused. But he also sympathizes with the victim of the crime and their family when the accused is released on bond.
"The general public looks at bondsmen in the worst terms, until it is your turn," said Judge Morton.
Commonwealth's Attorney Gary Close prosecutes criminal cases. But he realizes that bondsmen have a place in the judicial system.
He calls bondsmen, 'the pressure relief valve that keeps our system together."
Mr. Close said the cost to incarcerate everyone awaiting trial would be prohibitive.
The veteran prosecutor said without a bond system someone accused of stealing a $5 candy bar could remain locked up until trial. Mr. Close noted that our judicial system is based on the premise that everyone is "presumed" innocent until proven guilty.
"When we don't think bond is appropriate, we say so," said Mr. Close, about taking into account public safety.
Bondsmen take on a liability when they sign for someone to be released from jail, said Mr. Close. But bondsmen are also so given wide latitude to pursue people.
Last Wednesday, Mr. Lee stood in general district court dressed in a black T-shirt with his name and logo embroidered on the pocket. Judge Morton revoked the bond of an Orange County man Mr. Lee had bonded but failed to appear in court on a drunken driving charge. The judge gave Mr. Lee until Jan. 27, 2007 to find the man or risk losing the $2,000 bond.
"I hope you find him by then," the judge said with a smile.
Mr. Lee gathered his notebook and walked from the courtroom. The 10-year veteran of the bondsman business was going to find the man.
Mr. Lee climbed into the 2004 Ford F-350 blue pickup truck, which idled at the curb. Inside the air conditioning cooled his constant companion, 4-year-old Molly, a German Shepherd, sitting calmly in the back seat.
"It makes it personal," said Mr. Lee, about people who skip court and don't keep their part of the bargain.
As he drove towards Orange, Mr. Lee talked about a television show named Dog the Bounty Hunter, featuring Duane "Dog" Chapman, his wife Beth, and a host of family members.
In the late 80s and 90s, Mr. Lee said, "Dog" Chapman was the man to call if someone skipped bond and headed west. But he said the television show doesn't show the real life of bondsmen.
"I think it is an embarrassment to the profession, anybody that acts like that," said Mr. Lee.
He said some of the born-again Christian dialogue between "Dog" Chapman and the bail jumper is all Hollywood.
"When it comes time for me to come get you, I am not going to try to save you," he said. "You are going to jail. You will have to fall off the face of the earth for me not to find you."
It may take a while. Mr. Lee said he may spend more than the amount of the bail to catch someone but his word is his bond.
"We had an agreement," Mr. Lee said about someone he bonds and flees. "It would be an injustice if I didn't do what I said I was going to do."
Mr. Lee wheeled the truck he has put 20,000 miles on in four months into a rundown apartment complex on Lindsay Avenue looking for the man Judge Morton hoped he would find. He knocked on a grimy door. An elderly man answered. He told Mr. Lee the man he wanted was locked up in the Central Virginia Regional Jail south of the town of Orange. Mr. Lee called the jail and verified the information.
"I love it," he said, smiling.
Bail bond requirements
Licensing: Department of Criminal Justice Services began on July1, 2005.
Fees: $900, with bi-annual renewal for $900; firearms endorsement $10 annually.
Age: At least 18
Resident: Must be a U.S. Citizen or legal resident alien.
Education: High school diploma or GED.
Training: Completed the bail bondsman exam and all initial state-mandated training requirements.
Disqualifications: Convicted felon; employee, spouse of an employee or residing in the same household of a local or regional jail, sheriff's office, local police department, conservators of the peace, commonwealth attorney's office, Department of Corrections, department of Criminal Justice Services, or local corrections agency.
Collateral: Proof of $200,000 in collateral for each property bondsman and each agent for property bondsman; surety bondsmen must provide proof as a property or casualty insurance agent.
On the Web:
www.dcjs.virginia.gov
The bondsman then called Judge Morton's office to let the clerk know the man was in jail. Mr. Lee won't lose his $2,000 bond.
During the day his cell phone rang constantly. A woman in Northridge wanted Mr. Lee to come by and pick up money for getting her son out of jail. Another mother on Mimosa Court also called to pay Mr. Lee.
While the television bounty show appears glamorous and exciting, real life bond work is dangerous.
Two years ago, Mr. Lee went looking for a man charged with robbery who didn't appear in court. At the time, Mr. Lee weighed 340 pounds. He spotted the man near the old Schewels store. He grabbed the man in a bear hug, holding on with all his might. The man kept punching him in the face.
"He was tearing up my nose," Mr. Lee said.
Help finally arrived and the man was taken to jail.
Four years ago, a Bradford Road woman on bond for welfare fraud fought Mr. Lee when he tried to take her to jail for skipping court. Mr. Lee sported a pony tail at the time. The woman fought him and other women in the house grabbed his pony tail. Exhausted from the struggle Mr. Lee finally dragged the woman to the front door. As he opened the door, Mr. Lee saw Sheriff's Sgt. Doug Corbin who had come to the house to serve civil papers.
"He saved my life," said Mr. Lee.
Some time circumstances weigh on the veteran bondsman.
A man he bonded for an April stabbing in Culpeper recently was charged with murdering a man in Rappahannock County while out on bond. Even though the Culpeper stabbing was accidental, Mr. Lee said the circumstances in Rappahannock "weighs on you a lot."
Mr. Lee drove to a rundown house, the yard strewn with old lawnmowers and junk. Raw sewage floated in the backyard. He called the Orange County Sheriff's Office to let them know where he was. He was looking for another bail jumper.
He went to the front door and knocked. The curtains parted but no one answered. He walked around back to see if anyone came out the back door.
He knocked again at the front door and then walked in. The house was filled with cats. Two women were there, including one he had fought four years ago lay in bed. The man's mother said she hadn't seen or heard from her son in some time. Mr. Lee didn't believe her but left after not finding the man.
More phone calls and Mr. Lee headed to the Central Virginia Regional Jail to bond out several people. A father handed Mr. Lee $1,000 in an envelope to bond his son out for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon charge.
Donald Crawford, 64, of Greene County wanted Mr. Lee to bond his cousin. The man faced a $2,500 bond for disorderly conduct.
"It's not the first time I got him outta jail," Mr. Crawford said. "He's all right. He'll go to work and get a job."
Mr. Crawford cosigned an agreement with Mr. Lee guaranteeing the $2,500 bond.
"He's not going nowhere," Mr. Crawford said about his cousin. "He doesn't have enough sense to go anywhere."
In a few hours, Mr. Lee had made several thousand dollars.
Is there money to be made in the business?
"If you play it right," he said.
But the phone rings day or night. The self-described insomniac spends little time at home.
"If you added up the hours I put in, I probably made a little over minimum wage, but I like what I do."
Now that his wife is involved, Mr. Lee is going to open another office in Orange not far from the regional jail. He plans to get his daughter Kimberly into the bonding business, manning that office.
Mr. Lee's wife of 21 years, Nora, works as an accountant in Warrenton during the day, but now spends time with her husband working with him at night.
"I think I missed my calling," she said. "I really like this. I can't wait for 5 o'clock to get into something"
The couple put up everything they owned as collateral to establish a bonding business. She too has completed the state-mandated bonding course.
Wednesday night, she stood in the Culpeper magistrate's office bonding Tim Bennett, who faced child support charges. Instead of talking with a magistrate, the bond hearing occurred over the a television monitor with the magistrate on duty in Orange at the regional jail.
Mr. Bennett needed Mrs. Lee to post his $5,000 bond.
"They are good to deal with," said Mr. Bennett.
Outside the magistrate's office on the bench, the Lees talked about a man who wanted to be bonded but didn't have the fee. He was willing to do some work around their house.
Mrs. Lee argued that the man must start work "in a timely manner, not six months."
Mr. Lee went back inside the jail and emerged in a few minutes.
"He'll start tomorrow," he told his wife.
"Us bonding for ourselves, we can do some negotiation." said Mrs. Lee.
Mr. Lee can't imagine doing anything else, except maybe police work.
"In jail need bail?" reads the logo on the back window of the truck.
"We have the key to set you free," says the pen in his truck's console.
