We should all post "positive" news articles regarding our media attention. Perhaps there are people who monitor these forums who can make a difference. Here is one done a little while ago...
BURLINGTON FREE PRESS (Burlington, Vermont)
Skip bail in Vermont -- you might get away with it
Walter Biggs thought he had seen the last of Vermont.
He thought he'd go on spending his days soaking up the sun in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, with girlfriend Amber Thibault and their infant child.
He was wrong. Wednesday, a bewildered looking Biggs appeared in Vermont District Court and was told by Judge James Crucitti he won't be going anywhere anytime soon.
"In light of the fact ... that Mr. Biggs was located outside the country, the court will order that he be held without bail," Crucitti said curtly.
Biggs is in jail today, awaiting trial on burglary, cocaine possession and related charges, thanks in large part to a bail bonds company that decided it was better to chase Biggs down than allow him to stay on the loose.
Amherst Bail Bonds of Amherst, N.H., had put up a $10,000 bond to have Biggs released Nov. 21 while he awaited trial. Amherst figured Biggs, like most suspects, would stick around for trial rather than risk the consequences of running and being caught.
Biggs failed to appear for a court hearing a month later, a development that did not exactly surprise Herb Sinkinson, his probation officer. Biggs, 37, has a criminal record dating back to age 17. On court papers, he had listed a nonexistent address in North Hero as his home.
"I would have thought his bond would have been significantly higher," Sinkinson said. "He was a high-risk person."
To hunt Biggs down, Amherst turned to veteran bail enforcer Lance Wilkinson, a Burlington native. The search cost Amherst $5,400, quite a price to pay for placing its trust in Biggs, but less than the $10,000 bond amount it would have had to pay if Biggs never appeared and the bond were forfeited by order of the court.
The capture, on May 7, was dramatic. The arrest was arranged by Wilkinson and carried out by six U.S. marshals who, with guns drawn, surrounded a business where Biggs was employed.
"Biggs looked around, then complied and surrendered without resistance," Wilkinson wrote in his report. "His only words were 'I guess the game is over.'"
Here's the kicker. Had Biggs had the resources to post his own bail and not purchased a bond through Amherst Bail Bonds, he'd probably still be free.
"I know for a fact we would not have paid for it," Chittenden County State's Attorney Bob Simpson said when asked if Vermont would have done what Amherst did. "We have a very limited extradition fund."
How limited? Try $25,000. That's the entire amount available statewide annually for prosecutors to fund the costs of retrieving Vermont criminal suspects who flee.
"That's unfortunate," Sinkinson said. "It's part of the system that we might need to look at, especially now with the advent of all the drug stuff going on."
Jane Woodruff, who must approve all extradition expenditures as executive director of the Vermont State's Attorney's Department, acknowledged the small extradition fund requires prosecutors to "prioritize" such cases. Woodruff said no prosecutor has been discouraged from pursuing wayward criminal suspects, however.
Given the thousands of arrest warrants pending at any time in Vermont, you have to wonder how many times prosecutors have, on their own, chosen not to go after missing suspects, knowing the limitations of the extradition fund.
Wilkinson, a Burlington native who now lives in New Hampshire, also wonders why Vermont has no law against suspects who skip out on their bail.
Vermont is one of the very few states without a so-called bail-jumping law, Wilkinson said. Had such a law existed, it might have given Biggs pause before he tried to make a run for it.
"What's the matter with this state?" he asked as he stood outside the Edward J. Costello Courthouse in Burlington last week.
Good question.
Sam Hemingway is the Free Press state news columnist. His columns appear Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. If you have a comment or tip, phone 660-1850, or e-mail
shemingway@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com. For past columns, go to
www.burlingtonfreepress.com
...you do bad, you're bounty hunter 
