A new breed of high-volume bail bond company is jeopardizing public safety for profits in California, enabling hundreds of criminal defendants to flee while costing county treasuries millions of dollars in unpaid bail, according to law enforcement officials and court records.
The California Department of Insurance, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and prosecutors elsewhere in the state are investigating alleged corruption in the industry that could bring charges of perjury, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and unlawful business practices.
An examination of court records indicates that some firms have been issuing bail bonds to serious offenders without requiring sufficient collateral -- property pledged by a defendant to guarantee that a bond will be repaid. That greatly increases the risk that dangerous felons will flee, according to prosecutors.
Investigators said they believed that some of the firms had made bail easier to get in order to collect a steady stream of commissions from defendants -- typically 10% of the bail set by a judge. Some firms under investigation issued bail bonds regardless of the seriousness of the crimes or the suspects' backgrounds, prosecutors said.
State officials have no comprehensive records of bail forfeitures. In Los Angeles County, the records are kept by hand on index cards stored in the equivalent of shoeboxes.
But a review by The Times of records at the downtown Los Angeles criminal courts building showed that the county had been unable to collect at least $9.1 million in bail forfeitures during the two years ending in August 2003. Of that amount, $5.9 million was attributed to bail bonds posted by agents working with a single firm, Capital Bonding Corp., a Pennsylvania-based company that has touted itself as the "Wal-Mart of bail bonds."
Bailed-out suspects who are now fugitives include defendants charged with attempted murder, assault, burglary, drug trafficking and other serious offenses.
Carlos Alberto Hernandez, 26, fled from authorities in December 2002, nine days before he was to receive a life sentence for attempted murder. Capital had posted his $1.56-million bail without collateral. The county is still attempting to collect the forfeiture.
Javier Mendoza, 27, jumped bail even before he was arraigned in November 2001 on drug dealing charges that could have brought him 20 years in prison. He posted $500,000 bail with a bond from Capital.
