DAILY NEW INTERVIEW WITH FRANK ABOUT SO CALLED BEA,S IN NH

Investigator: It's no 'Dog' show for real-life bail agents

By Angeljean Chiaramida
Staff writer
The Dail News


Real bail-recovery agents don't use "Dog, the Bounty Hunter" tactics, says a New Hampshire private investigator who's furious about a recent case in Hampton in which three alleged "agents" were charged with handcuffing a woman and interrogating her at gunpoint.

According to Frank Abramovitz, a private investigator and former Massachusetts police officer, bail recovery agents in New Hampshire work through local police departments to recapture those who've jumped bail. They never brandish a badge, never handcuff witnesses and never point guns at witnesses' heads.

Abramovitz called The Daily News to press his point after reading the account of the recent arrests of Hampton residents Robert Zucchari, 38, Nicholas Theisen, 55, and Jeaninne Anno, 28.

According to police documents on the incident, the three were arrested on felony charges related to criminal restraint on Thursday, in connection with a Feb. 14 incident in which they were charged with handcuffing Christine Zamora in her Hampton apartment and holding a gun to her head while pressing her for information about other people. If convicted of the charges, each could serve 3 1/2 to 7 years in jail.

Zamora and a witness reported to police that the three identified themselves as "federal bail agents," had gold badges, and were wearing guns while they spent 15 minutes aggressively interrogating a handcuffed Zamora after barging into her apartment.

"There's no such thing as a federal bail agent," Abramovitz said yesterday, speaking from Maryland. "They had no legal right to handcuff her. Bail recovery agents can only handcuff the prisoner they're going after. They're not a police officer; they're not law enforcement. In New Hampshire, by law they're not allowed to carry any kind of badge. I don't know who they are or who they thought they were."

Abramovitz said such actions really hurt the reputation of legitimate bail recovery agents, colloquially known as bounty hunters. He said if the allegations are true, it only reinforces the mistaken impression given by a reality-based cable TV program titled "Dog, the Bounty Hunter," which follows the exploits of Duane "Dog" Chapman and Da Kine Bail Bonds, of Honolulu.

"People think what they see on "Dog" on TV is the way everybody works," Abramovitz said. "I've never seen bounty hunters act like that, and as a matter of fact we're trying to get away from the words bounty hunter because of that. Half the bounty hunters I know have no use for Dog because a lot of what he does is very wrong. I've never kicked in a door in my life."

Abramovitz, 68, said he's never heard of these three individuals recently arrested in Hampton and he's familiar with the others in his field in the state. Further, Abramovitz checked the roster of the National Enforcement Agency — a professional organization for bail recovery agents — and he couldn't find their names. He checked other memberships of similar organizations and still couldn't find them.

Licensed private investigators are allowed to recover individuals who jump bail in New Hampshire, Abramovitz said. He and members of his firm, AMK Investigations, work in a number of states, including New Hampshire, Maryland and Maine.

When he has to retrieve someone for the bail bondsman, Abramovitz works with local police providing an array of information, including specific descriptions and following protocols. It's police, he said, who usually take the people he's after into custody, usually while he's with them.

"This is the kind of stuff that hurts us," Abramovitz said about the alleged behavior of the three arrested. "These guys come in like fools. You can get any kind of badge you want off the Internet these days."

In New Hampshire, there are strict regulations spelled out in state law determining the behavior and credentialing of private investigators and bail recovery agents, he said, and the same is true in Massachusetts. Abramovitz said he'd be happy to help officials learn more about the proper behavior for bail recovery agents.

Good article.

thanks go to Frank for standing up for us.

_________________
River City Associates
Decatur, Al. 35601

With all due respect, I disagree. Why add fuel to the fire other than looking for self attention.

_________________
Yak .... H.B.I.C.
Riverside Enforcement
Hackensack NJ 07601
Ph. (201) 538 - 2947
Fax (201) 342 - 5405

With all due respect, I disagree with you no one is adding fuel to the fire or looking for self-attention. He is speaking up for the rest of us in this business I do not know how long you have been in the business and I don’t know you but I will say this we get enough bad publicity from people who say they are agents and get there names in the paper every time they get arrested for doing something wrong and as far as myself and I think many others in our profession will agree with me we are sick and tired of seeing these so called hunters in the paper we don’t need the bad publicity and when we can get someone to speak the truth about our profession and stick up for the profession I say thanks .

It is about time that we weed out the fools as some one said these fools probably were trained by USRB and as many of us know look and see how many agents have been arrested from there school and also in NH we have very strict laws about BEAs doing work up here and Federal Badges come on as I say again we don’t need the BAD PRESS

Scott, whatever, whatever. It was already published once in the media.
To bring it up again with emphisis only amplified this situation, as it has so many times in the past. I respect your opinion, thats your right, mine differs from yours, who cares?. We all know about USRB, now theres an opinion that is universally shared by all, but has anyone up there inquired whether it was them or some rogue untrained cowboys from anywhere USA??. Sadly, it's going to happen again, regardless of geographical regulations or restictions and theres not much we're going to do but read about it. The media feeds off of our industries mishaps, to keep feeding them only adds fuel to that eternal torch that always going to ignite good reading at our expense. Again, put it to rest, the damage is done and no one wins but the media in situations like these.

_________________
Yak .... H.B.I.C.
Riverside Enforcement
Hackensack NJ 07601
Ph. (201) 538 - 2947
Fax (201) 342 - 5405

_________________
Yak .... H.B.I.C.
Riverside Enforcement
Hackensack NJ 07601
Ph. (201) 538 - 2947
Fax (201) 342 - 5405