http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm ... 7576&rfi=6
03/15/2007
Bondsman insists he’s innocent of bribery charges
Mary E. O’Leary , Register Topics Editor
New Haven Police Lt. William "Billy" White, center, returns to his Alston Avenue home with family and supporters early Wednesday night. Mara Lavitt/Register (Buy Register photos)
-NEW HAVEN — Paul Jacobs, one of three bail bondsmen charged with bribery by federal officials, said Wednesday he did nothing wrong and wants his reputation back.
"What this was about was a bondsman trying to catch a fugitive. We weren’t trying to offer bribes to anyone. We were just trying to catch the bad guy and get him off the street to save ourselves a large sum of money on the bond," Jacobs said.
But state Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the state Judiciary Committee, said the charges point to major flaws in the bail bonds system, and he will resurrect reforms shot down in 2004 because of heavy lobbying by Paul Jacobs and his relatives.
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Paul Jacobs has run a bail bonds business in New Haven for years, following in the footsteps of his father, Robert Jacobs, who has a separate bail business with another son, Philip Jacobs.
All three were charged Tuesday in an alleged kickback scheme involving Lt. William White, a 39-year officer in New Haven and head of the narcotics unit. White was suspended from the force Tuesday and is free on $2 million bail.
White was charged with theft of government funds, involving $27,500 disguised as drug money, and bribery for allegedly tracking down fugitives for bail bondsmen while working for the city.
The police supervisor was recorded in a wiretap saying he made $60,000 in four or five years nabbing fugitives for Robert Jacobs, according to the affidavit.
Neither Robert, nor Philip would address the charges, but Paul did.
"I never had any involvement with Billy White. My position on it was that I was hiring an off-duty police officer, which according to my attorney was legal, to apprehend a fugitive," he said in a phone interview.
According to the arrest affidavit, Paul Jacobs was recorded talking to an undercover agent, offering him $10,000 to find a fugitive in Waterbury.
The price eventually escalated to $15,000 and Paul Jacobs put a blank check (signed, but no payee listed) for $9,500; $3,500 in cash and a letter in an envelope, all of which was delivered to White by Robert Jacobs, according to the affidavit.
Paul Jacobs text-messaged White that the check was for the informant, according to the affidavit. White would not accept the check, so Robert Jacobs converted it to cash, records said.
There are several other references in the affidavit that go to Paul Jacobs’ alleged intent.
The undercover agent recorded a conversation in which Paul Jacobs said the matter of paying the agent to get the fugitive would not go beyond himself and his father.
"(We) pride ourselves on not having a big mouth," Jacobs said.
The undercover officer said he could get into trouble if his employer found out he was taking money in exchange for locating fugitives.
Jacobs agreed and said: "I would be in just as much trouble. So far as I’m concerned, the money is going to an informant and ... uhhh .. or actually there is no money going out... ummm ... maybe with the cash, it is all hush-hush."
The FBI also said Paul Jacobs was told in September 2006, by someone who is now a police chief, that trying to pay law enforcement officers for their professional services was illegal.
Lawlor said at a minimum, the state should move the supervision of the industry from the Insurance Department to the Department of Public Safety.
"The Insurance Department is kind of clueless how the criminal justice system works and what these bail bondsmen are supposed to be doing. They never enforced any of the rules, they just ignored them all," Lawlor said.
The business changed about seven years ago when the way to make money was to deal in volume and underbid small firms, Lawlor said. Lawlor said big companies came in and hired a lot of agents, including gang members, which led to a number of arrests around the state.
Lawlor said the majority of bail bondsmen were in favor of changes "that would bring the system back to some kind of equilibrium. They wanted to make sure there was oversight so their competitors couldn’t cheat."
Philip Jacobs said they opposed the changes because "they would be crippling for the business." He said those who supported it "don’t want competition. They were charging exorbitant rates to poor people that don’t have the money."
Paul Jacobs reiterated his brother’s comments that the proposal was "too drastic," although some reforms might be in order.
As for the defense that the bondsmen thought they were hiring off-duty police officers, Jeffery Meyer, a former U.S. attorney, said you would have to look at the arrangement.
"To the degree there was actually a formal agreement, did they memorialize it in writing, sign a contract ... or was it something more akin to a handshake and a payment in a dark parking lot? That would reflect a lot whether the Jacobs thought they were doing something legal or not," Meyer said.
Generally, however, he said the issues outlined in the affidavit, "seemed to be a cry for better regulation in the field to make the lines even clearer in terms of permissible relationships between bail bondsmen and law enforcement officers."
©New Haven Register 2007
