Orange County Sheriff Arrests Suspected Child Predator

Early Tuesday morning, FBI's SAFE team executed an arrest warrant and apprehended J. Randall Ismay at his Laguna Niguel residence.

SAFE is multi-agency federal Task Force designed to combat on-line sexual predators. The Orange County SAFE team is made up of agents from the FBI, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the Huntington Beach Police Department.

Ismay, a 58 year old male, is a convicted sex offender and was taken into custody early yesterday. His bail bond was set at $100,000.00.

Investigators portrayed a 14 year old male and Ismay proceeded in distributing child pornography over the internet while chatting with the undercover officer. Additional charges may also be added after a forensic exam.

Bail Bond Companies Indicted in San Bernardino

Fifteen people were indicted last week in San Bernardino for illegal kickback schemes which involved several bail bond companies. Most defendants were indicted on December 6, 2007, by a special criminal grand jury who originally charged them back in 2004.

According to the indictment, these people worked for Boone's Bail Bonds, Arzate Bail Bonds, and the Bail Hotline. The son of the former San Bernardino County Sheriff Floyd Tidwell was involved as well!

John Barnett, a high profile Orange County attorney representing Shirley Tidwell, said that he was not surprised by the indictment and that his client would be vindicated of the charges.

Over thirty people were charged with the bail bond investigation in 2004 and many accepted plea agreements. Those who fought the charges were eventually indicted last week.

Brothers Released On Million Dollar Bail Bonds

Winslow Norton and Abraham Norton were released from the Alameda County Jail early this morning on federal criminal charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana, distributing the drug and money laundering.

The defendants both posted a million dollar bail bond each for their release. The bail bonds are secured by the Nortons' mother's house in Berkeley.

Prosecutors say the brothers made $26 million from the operation in the first six months of 2007, owned Mercedes Benzes and established $67,000 individual retirement accounts for themselves.

They each face a total of 23 counts in a federal grand jury indictment, including 18 counts of money laundering.

Harold Rosenthal, a lawyer for Winslow Norton said they ran a bona fide dispensary, helping people with bona fide medical problems. Their principal sin seems to be making money. The penalty for making too much money is to pay a lot of taxes.

Dog The Bounty Hunter To Help Joe Francis

Joe Francis, is best known as the founder and CEO of the Girls Gone Wild videos and in recent times, has found himself in trouble with the civil and criminal court systems.

Francis has been behind bars for the last six months without bail for a case dating back to 2003. The case stems from the Panama City officials trying to block filming of his videos. After a successful First Amendment lawsuit filed by Joe Francis, the Panama City officials backed down. Joe Francis' website MeetJoeFrancis.com claims the officials of Panama City, Florida, are enraged and seeking vengeance.

After watching a jailhouse interview with Joe Francis on Fox News', Duane "Dog" Chapman believes that Francis has been mistreated by the Florida Legal System. Chapman, has a reality TV series "Dog The Bounty Hunter". Chapman's argument is that he has seen many people released on more severe charges and there should be no reason why Joe Francis should not be able to post a bail bond.

Chapman has even offered to co-sign on Joe Francis' bail bond after contacting him at the Washoe County Jail in Reno, Nevada.

Fake Doctor Skips On Bail Bond

Mario Nieves Perez, 45, will be held without bail once captured for failing to appear in court yesterday. Originally, the Defendant had posted a $20,000.00 bail bond on four felony counts of practicing medicine without a license.

Since his release and failure to appear, the criminal complaint filed against Perez charges 18 counts of practicing medicine without a license, 10 counts of mayhem, and one count of elder abuse.

Perez allegedly was charging $100 for injections at a salon. The procedure performed by a doctor usually cost $500 to $2,500.00. Perez also admitted to the police in his original arrest that he was performing injections for 18 months and had done other cosmetic procedures as well.

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O.C. Defense Attorney Pleads Guilty to Payoff

Joseph Cavallo, a high profile criminal defense attorney, pleaded guilty to illegally paying off bail bonds agents to get him clients from the Orange County Jail.

Prosecutors claim that Cavallo paid Castro, a bail bond agent, $50,000.00 between June 2003 and August 2005.

John Barnett, Cavallo's attorney, mentioned to reporters that his client is willing to serve any sentence deemed appropriate.

Bail Bondsmen Sentenced In Orange County

Unfortunately, it is never a pleasure to write about pitfalls and individuals in our industry, but time has proven over and over again, that greed and unethical conduct within the bail bond industry can only hurt the public's perception of our profession.

Jorge Andres Castro, 31, of Aliso Viejo, and Alejandro De Jesus Cruz, of Miami, pleaded guilty in February to two felonies. They were sentenced this past Friday.

Castro was the owner of the bail bond company in Santa Ana, and Cruz worked as an operator at the agency. They admitted to referring inmates to Joseph Cavallo, a criminal defense attorney,and Cavallo paid them for the illegal soliciting of business.

Joseph Cavallo became well-known after defending Greg Haidl, the son of the former assistant sheriff. Cavallo is due back in court, whose trial is set for October 22, 2007.

Lodi Man Out On $250,000.00 Bail Bond

A day after he was charged with threatening and bribing drivers at a local trucking company, a former dispatcher and Lodi man posted a $250,000 bail bond and walked out of jail.

James Melvin Canclini, 41, faces charges of bribing at least 29 drivers at T&T Trucking between 1997 and 2006. Prosecutors also charged him with stealing more than $100,000 from the business, threatening a witness this year and filing false tax returns.

Canclini was arraigned Thursday on a total of seven counts and was appointed a public defender, saying he could not afford his own attorney. Judge Richard Vlavianos set bail at $250,000, the amount previously set in an arrest warrant, and scheduled a hearing for Tuesday because Canclini's attorney had asked that bail be reduced.

On Friday afternoon, Canclini posted the bail bond through a bail agent, Deputy District Attorney Stephen Taylor said.Bail bond agents charge a 10 percent fee, meaning that Canclini would have needed to come up with $25,000 cash, as well as collateral to cover the bond.

El Sobrante Marijuana Candy Maker Out On Bail Bond

The founder of an Oakland food factory that laces everything from candy and cookies to barbecue sauce with marijuana surrendered Thursday to face a federal drug charge and was later freed on a $300,000 bail bond.

Michael Martin, 33, of El Sobrante, was granted release on bail by the U.S. Magistrate. If convicted of charges to manufacture marijuana, Martin may face up to 20 years in prison.

Judge Upholds No-Bail Bond Rule In Arizona

A state Court of Appeals recently denied a bail bond for an illegal immigrant who was charged with a certain felony, stating that their constitutional rights are not violated.

The Court of Appeals ruling on Tuesday, caused much argument between both parties. The attorney for the defendant claims that Proposition 100 last year, unfairly targeted illegal immigrants in this country and that it "inflicts punishment without due process."

But, Judge Donn Kessler, writing for the unanimous court, stated it is clear that the purpose of Proposition 100 is not to punish those not legally here, but simply to ensure that they appear at their trial.

Bail for Suspect Doubles to $500,000.00

John Burgess, the alleged suspect in Donna Jou's disappearance had his bail bond raised to a half a million dollars this morning in court for failing to register as a sex offender on a previous case. The bail bond amount is double the amount of the bail bond posted by the suspect previously.

$250,000.00 Bail Bond Revoked

John Steven Burgess, 35, has been mentioned as a possible suspect to Donna Jou's disappearance. Donna Jou is a San Diego State biology student who had met Burgess through the craigslist website. She's gone missing since June 23, 2007, and it is believed that Burgess has information on Donna's whereabouts.

Meanwhile, the suspect's bail bond was revoked by the bail bond agency in California who original posted his bail. The bail bond was the result of Burgess not registering as a sex offender on a previous case. He also has an extensive criminal arrest history including the Florida video store theft which lead to his rearrest and surrender.

Finally, Burgess is being held at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility and has a court appearance scheduled on October 10, 2007.

Cash Bail Gone Wrong

Norman Hsu, a Democratic Fundraiser has been in the news these last couple of months on fraud charges stemming from 15 years ago. Supposedly, Mr. Hsu received monies from several families for the democratic party illegally?

When arrested last month, Mr. Norman Hsu posted cash bail in the amount of $2,000,000.00. The prosecution is now saying that Mr. Hsu missed a September 5, 2007, court appearance and the court forfeited his bail.

At the present time, Mr. Norman Hsu is sitting in jail and the district attorney's office is trying hold the 2 million dollars to somehow compensate the families for their loss. The state law holds that such defendant is entitled to recovering the money if he appears within 180 days, no matter the circumstances.

Regardless, we can obviously see how the criminal court system can take advantage of a cash bail situation. Things could of been much different if Mr. Norman Hsu has posted a bail bond instead.

Orange County Bail Bonds Slowdown

The Orange County Jail, Theo Lacy facility is on lockdown after several weeks of violence between inmates of two ethnic groups. The Theo Lacy facility houses 3,000 inmates and the lockdown security measure is the second in nearly three years.

Inmates families are concerned because of the very limited contact they have and visiting has been canceled for the time being. Fastrak Bail Bonds has also been experiencing delays when posting the bail bonds for the clients. The time release when posting a bail bond is approximately four to six hours and we have been seeing clients release time on a bail bond take up to twelve hours.

Currently, only official visits from Attorneys, Bail Bond agents and law enforcement will be accepted.

Orange County Bail Bonds

Rodney J. Bartow, 53, was arrested Sunday after allegedly attempting to back over the unnamed officer when a vehicle pursuit ended at a locked gate on Snow Camp Road.

The incident occurred in Humboldt County an area of northern California. The bail bond amount set for the defendant was $50,000.00, and it is believed that Mr. Rodney J. Bartow posted the bail bond amount through a local bail bond agency.

Mr. Rodney J. Bartow is a very lucky man, the bail amount could of been much higher in Orange County.

Southern California Bail Bonds

Simpson made his $125,000 bail on charges including kidnapping and armed robbery on September 19, 2007. People might ask if the amount of bail was justified? Unfortunately, the presiding judge over the case may deter from the bail bond schedule for that jurisdiction based on the individual's past criminal history and the likeliness of flight. In addition, for the sole purposes of bail, the defendant is considered guilty of the underlying charges.

In this case, I believe the court was justified in the amount of bail set for O.J. Simpson. Let's not forget, it is our constitutional right to non-excessive bail under the 8th amendment.