Bounty Hunter Beats the Odds to Capture Sex Offender

CLARK COUNTY, WA - Bounty hunter Derek Morrison beat the odds and found a Clark County bail jumper who skipped a $50,000 bond and escaped to Colorado. The wanted man, Cory Robert Fellows, was a fugitive sex offender. Morrison was suffering from walking pneumonia when he found Fellows. After arresting Fellows, Morrison was in for a surprise. Fellows somehow got the keys to his handcuffs and escaped while on a bathroom break. The bondsman found him again by having a woman pose as Fellows’ girlfriend on the phone.

The Bail Industry Gets Political

HUNTINGTON, WV - Laura Beckett-White, Democrat candidate for Cabell County magistrate, is seeking to make changes in the magistrate court system. She wants to see bondsmen approved by county officials and supervised in order to improve the local bail system. Overall, though she supports more supervision and more regulations in the bail industry, Beckett-White believes that bondsmen are a cost-effective way of keeping jail costs low.

Dr. Phil in Bondsman Controversy

TAMPA BAY, FL - Dr. Phil, the popular television psychologist, is once again stirring up controversy, after staffers from his show posted bail for a Florida girl charged in a videotaped beating. The accused, Mercades Nichols, was held on a $33,000 bond and Dr. Phil staffers paid $3,300 to a bondsman to get the girl out of jail in anticipation of her appearing in a future episode. Following criticism of the move, Dr. Phil himself alleged that his staffers overstepped their bounds when helping the girl. Someone not involved with the television show posted the remainder of the collateral.

In NY, Man Offers Fake Money for Bond

MELVILLE, NY - Cyheam Forney was stopped by a Suffolk County police sergeant after making an illegal turn. Unfortunately, the man did not have any identification with him. Worse, when the sergeant ran Forney’s name the through Department of Motor Vehicle records, he found that Forney's license had been suspended 35 times. Forney was offered $500 bail for the incident. When he went to pay his bond, though, police noticed that one of the bills was counterfeit. When questioned, Forney admitted it and was eventually arraigned and held on $5,000 for felony possession of a forged instrument and $2,500 for motor vehicle offenses.