IF YOU TAKE IT OUT IN TRADE IT EVENTUALLY BITES

Former bail bondsman facing felony prostitution charges

Published: October 03, 2006

Kendall Owens, T-H Staff Writer
Times Herald - Forrest City

A former St. Francis County bail bondsman is facing 16 felony counts of promoting prostitution after his arrest last week in Cross County.

According to officials with the Cross County Sheriff’s Department, Billy Kennedy, 46, of Colt, has been charged with 16 counts of promoting prostitution in the first degree, which is a class D felony, stemming from an investigation that began in March.

According to Lt. Larry Jones, an investigator with the Cross County Sheriff’s Department, the investigation began after calls were made to the department by individuals accusing Kennedy of wrongdoing. According to Jones, the 16 counts were levied by several different women, all residents of Cross County.

In July, the Arkansas Professional Bail Bondsman Licensing Board revoked Kennedy’s license with a unanimous decision following a hearing which included testimony from several women alleging that Kennedy had asked for sex instead of money to get the women or their relatives out of jail.

According to an earlier story published in the Times-Herald, five women accused Kennedy of getting them out of jail only after they had agreed to perform sexual favors instead of paying the normal 10 percent of the bond, and a sixth woman accused him of offering to reduce the amount she owed on her son’s bond if she would have sex with him.

Officials with the St. Francis County Sheriff’s Department said this morning that Kennedy is not currently under investigation in this county, and a detective with the Forrest City Police Department said that officials had spoken with Cross County investigators and an investigation may be pending in Forrest City.

Kennedy was scheduled to appear in court in Cross County on Monday for a plea and arraignment hearing but an official in the Cross County Circuit Clerk’s office said that no plea hearings were set for Monday, only criminal cases.

An official with deputy prosecutor Michael Ladd’s office said that the case would have been heard in Cross County District Court Monday, but officials in that office also said that Kennedy was not on Monday’s court docket. A class D felony carries a maximum penalty of up to six years in prison per count.

Kennedy, was employed by Bryce’s Bail Bonding Inc., and had worked for the company for about three years. He was suspended in May without pay when the company learned he was under investigation.

Arkansas law governing bail bondsmen states that a bonding agent’s employer is liable for its agents’ misconduct. In July, an attorney for Bryce’s Bail Bonding Inc., argued that since none of the women testifying against Kennedy had complained to the company, it shouldn’t be punished. The Bail Bonding Board agreed and absolved the company, which is based in Higden, of wrongdoing in the case.

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Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

Hasn't the guy ever heard of eHarmony.com.

Good one...

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Jay Shell
Covering North East AL.
AAA / Eagle Bail Bonds, LLC
Anniston, AL
256.235.2437

But don't you have to fill out a form on eHarmony ? Maybe he did and they couldn't find a match....

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Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

What can I say, other than "LOSER"!!!

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Kathy Blackshear
Blackshear Investigations
Blackshear Bail Bonds
Sales Associate, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.
Walsenburg, CO

Proud Member of the AB Reject Club

And if you believe the companies attorney I will tell you another one. That is the company owner I just quit working for in June. They had another agent being accused of the same a few years ago but none of the women forced the issue. This is not to say that it is the companies fault because I am sure that there are more than a few companies that have agents that do this all the time. To tell the truth I do know of another company that has an agent that is flagrant about this but the females are very afraid of him and the Sheriff's department becuase the Sheriff and him are best friends. This is not a rumor or gossip just facts.

Shoot we even have a female bonds person that that takes it out in trade and product. I say yuck!!!!
I don't even think that she is pretty - a bit on the trashy and fluffy side.

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Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

trashy and fluffy......umm,umm,good.

I see that Arkansas is not the only state that has naughty Bonds People

The following was posted by Tony S. back on 08-23-06

Guilty Plea In Prostitution Case
One Of The Ringleaders Of A Violent, Interstate Business Faces More Than 20 Years In Prison; He Is Accused Of Bonding Girls Out Of Jail On Condition That They Work For Him
By EDMUND H. MAHONY
Courant Staff Writer

August 23, 2006

A West Hartford man accused of being one of the ringleaders of a violent, interstate prostitution business faces more than 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to charges that include conspiracy, promoting prostitution, money laundering and transporting women between states in violation of the Mann Act.

Among other things, Ronald Martinez, 39, who formerly operated a licensed bail bond company called Liberty Bail Bonds, is accused of bonding girls out of jail on the condition that they pay the costs of their bonds by going to work for him as prostitutes.

Martinez was one of a group of nine men and one woman accused in March of running three related prostitution rings. One of the ringleaders is accused of holding two women against their will and forcing them into prostitution. Members of the ring also are accused of employing three minors as prostitutes.

Brian Forbes, 41, who has had various recent addresses in the Waterbury and Hartford areas, is accused of holding the two women, choking one of them, providing them with heroin, forcing them into prostitution and then selling them to another ringleader, Dennis Paris, for $1,200 each.

Paris, 33, also is charged in the case. His case, and that of Forbes and six others are pending in U.S. District Court in Hartford.

Martinez is accused in the indictment against him and the others with using cellular telephones to dispatch drivers to deliver prostitutes to prearranged meetings with their customers in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Customers had the option of paying the $125 to $300 fee in cash or by credit card.

Martinez drummed up customers by advertising in newspapers and in the telephone book as an escort service under the names Fantasy Entertainment Services, Fantasy Companions, Fantasy Playmates, and Connecticut Playmates.

In a related development in the case, Jerome "June" Hargrove, 27, of Windsor, pleaded guilty on Monday to promoting prostitution. He admitted that between November 2003 and September 2005 he was employed as a driver. Federal prosecutors say he was paid $50 every time he delivered a prostitute to a customer.

Martinez and Hargrove are to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Christopher F. Droney on Nov. 9. Hargrove faces up to five years in prison. The most serious charge against Martinez carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years.

The remaining defendants in the case have not indicated whether they will plead guilty, the U.S. attorney's office said

Tony Suggs
Castle Bail Bonds
Richmond, CA 94804
510-232-3399

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Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

LuVonda I think there was a case similar to that one in your own back yard years before we had entered into the business. If I remember correctly they tried him for slave labor. Did'nt he own a ranch and would make them stay there?