Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Well, the day has finally arrived… all at the same time…

July 1, 2019… mark it on your calendar… because it is a day that will long be remembered by an industry that has been on the downswing for many years.

It has been foretold by many… not believed by most… ignored by most and now… it has arrived… and all the disbelievers will have a very rude awakening.

“THE DEATH OF THE COMMERCIAL BAIL BONDS BUSINESS IN VIRGINIA”

I can attest to this because today, July 1st., 2019, I experienced the tolling of the bell firsthand… got slapped in the face by an industry that I have worked diligently in for almost 20 years.

Here’s the story, firsthand and unabridged.

In June of this year, I bonded a young man on a small bond… $1000… for reckless handling of a firearm and brandishing… years ago this bond would have been at least $5000 and probably $10,000 but years of liberal crying and blaming this industry for holding people on unreasonable bond has brought the totals down considerably… but that is yet another story not particularly involved here.

Anyway, several days ago, this defendant was in court on another charge (that’s important), was taken into custody and jailed without bond. At this time, no one can tell me the reason… not the court, the lawyer, the police… nothing shows up on the court website and no one at the records department at the jail seems to have a clue what is happening with this defendant???

Ok… so moving forward to my current situation… when a defendant is charged with an additional charge while out on bond, he basically violates the original bond. The main condition on a bond is to “not pick up any additional charges”… if you do… you have violated your original bond.

As a bondsman, we are very aware of additional charges and when this happens, we ordinarily will “come off the original bond”. This is just good business and is not personal.

The process for coming off a bond is to obtain a document from the court, a paper called a “bailpiece” or “surety capias”. Over the years, the process was basically no big deal… just part of the process and required nothing more than a court clerk signature and then a jailer’s signature.

July 1, 2019… a new set of laws related to bonding came about… one law now says the bondsman must pay a fee (10% or $50.) to obtain a bailpiece (Capias) in order to arrest a principle. This fee is payable unless the court has issued a capias on the principle and in that instance the fee is waived.

 Here is the code: “If a bail bondsman surrenders his principal for any reason other than a summons from the court, the bondsman shall deposit with the clerk or magistrate the greater of 10% of the bond amount or $50.00, which shall be made at such time as the bondsman makes application for a capias.”

Well, this guy was arrested in court, went before the magistrate and is currently being held without bond. I went to the clerk’s office to obtain a bailpiece to come off the bond and was told I had to pay $100. Needless to say, I blew up.

I didn’t arrest this guy, I didn’t obtain a capias because the court locked him up… why should I have to pay a fee when the court locked him up? I was told since the court had not issued a capias and he was taken into custody in court that the fee was payable.

So, if I am now ordered to pay a fee whenever I want to exonerate a bond… that ends my career… nada… not gonna happen… I have just written my last bond.

Today, I retired. Thanks to all the great people that have dealt with me over the past 20 odd years. I have enjoyed all but the last 24 hours.

I am now retired; no more bonds and I am also giving up my Private Investigators license... none of that either. Thanks, but no thanks… no more money to DCJS.

I just got off the phone with my surety company informing them of my plans… they were not happy but understood. I’m done.

1.5 million? How's that even possible?