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Hunting down the bad guys
Brandy L. Pecor
Of the Suburban Journals
O'Fallon Mo Journal
You might have read about the mishaps of the fictional bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, as told in the books by Janet Evanovich. Or you might have watched the popular reality TV show "Dog the Bounty Hunter." But the fictional Plum and the real-life Dog are misrepresentations of what modern-day bounty hunting is all about, according to local bounty hunters.
"What you see on TV is not accurate and it gives us a bad image," said Wayne Pollet, a bounty hunter, bail bondsman and owner of America's Professional Bailbonds in St. Charles County. "What they do on TV is simply not conducive to being professional."
Modern-day bounty hunters are qualified professionals who take their jobs seriously.
Laws passed in January made it harder to become a bounty hunter, or surety recovery agent, as the state now calls them.
A surety recovery agent is a person who, for a reward, tracks down people who are wanted by the law. New agents are required to undergo 24 hours of training and take a written board exam that is given by the Missouri Department of Insurance. They must also be licensed as a bail bondsman and receive eight hours of continuing training every two years to maintain their license. Licensed bail bondsmen who did their own bounty hunting before this year were grandfathered in as licensed agents.
It is illegal for a person to act as a surety recovery agent without a license by the state.
"The cowboy days of bounty hunting are over," Pollet said.
Many bounty hunters are bail bondsmen who act as agents when a defendant that they have posted bail for leaves town before his or her court date or fails to appear for the court date. Those defendants that leave town are known as "jumpers."
Once the agent decides to go after a jumper, the agent must obtain a certified copy of the bond from the courts. The copy of the bond is all the agent needs to place the jumper under arrest and bring the person to the local sheriff's department.
Of course, this all happens after the agent finds the jumper.
Finding the jumper can be time-consuming and a job in itself. Pollet once tracked a jumper every day for six weeks straight, he said. He did, however, apprehend the man in the end, he said.
Rich Hammers, a bail bondsman and licensed agent who owns Best Bail Bonds in St. Charles County, also spent several weeks tracking a jumper earlier in his career. Hammers and Pollet have traveled to several different states to apprehend a jumper.
To find a jumper, agents talk to a number of people. They may talk to a family member who may have co-signed for the bond, spouses or former spouses of the jumper or street informants. Informants might sometimes be more willing to give information to a surety recovery agent than a law enforcement official.
"If someone talks to a bail bondsman, they are not viewed as a snitch, but if they talk to a cop, they are viewed as a snitch," Pollet said.
Once agents have the information that will lead them to the jumper, many will follow a certain procedure. They may notify local authorities to let them know the agents may need to enter a building where a jumper could be hiding and that they plan on bringing the jumper to the police station.
"That way, you're protected, the jumper is protected and the police know what's going on," Hammers said.
Another precautionary measure that agents take when apprehending a jumper is that they seldom work alone. By working in groups, agents can cover more than one exit of a building. Plus, it's simply safer than working alone.
"You should never go in alone, I don't care who you're looking for," Hammers said.
"I always try to work with my cousin," said Mike Melson, an agent and partner of Bad Boyz Bail Bonds in St. Charles County. Melson's cousin, William Yowell, is the owner of Bad Boyz Bail Bonds.
Melson, and most agents, wear a protective Kevlar vest, which provides protection against bullets and sharp weapons, and their badge when trying to apprehend a jumper. The agents are often armed and are legally allowed to use force if necessary to bring in a jumper.
"You have to come in hard and sometimes armed. You have to be aware of what you're going into," Pollet said.
Jumpers aren't the only dangers agents face. They can sometimes encounter family members of the jumper who may be hiding the person or may become violent. Agents sometimes enter dangerous environments, such as a methemphetamine lab.
"The circumstances that we find ourselves in sometimes can get pretty hairy. The guys that I am dealing with have done who knows what," Melson said.
Situations that even seem safe could turn dangerous. Pollet recalled an attempted apprehension he had done early in his career, where he approached a jumper during the person's softball game.
"The guy's softball team beat the crap out of me," Pollet said.
While some apprehensions end up dangerous, many are not.
"Sometimes the jumper is someone who failed to show up to court for a traffic violation simply because they forgot about it," Melson said.
"Sometimes the jumper is just a person who has missed their court date due to a misunderstanding with their attorney," Pollet said.
Apprehensions often go quickly and smoothly.
"Once we have the person in our sights and they see us, we seldom have a struggle," Melson said.
"If you do your job right and become efficient at it, you won't get hurt," Pollet said.
The need to go after a jumper can be greatly reduced if the bondsman chooses his clients carefully.
"If you use good judgment as a bail bondsman, you don't have to do many apprehensions," Hammers said.
While good agents are efficient and work hard to do their job to the best of their abilities, they admit that the work can not only be dangerous, but sometimes all consuming.
"The phone rings 24 hours a day," Melson said.
"It never stops. You have to answer the phone for your business, even in the middle of the night," Hammers said.
Melson got into the agent business for the money, he said.
The fee that agents receive varies depending on who they work for. Melson, Pollet and Hammers are all bail bondsmen who go after only their own clients if the client decides to jump bail. The agents stand to lose the bond money, though, if they do not bring in their jumper.
Melson and Hammers sometimes pay other agents to do apprehensions for them. The fees range from $50 to 10 percent of the cost of the bond. Bonds can be as high as $50,000, which leaves the agent with a $5,000 check. Those instances are rare, however.
There are other good things about being a bounty hunter aside from the monetary reward.
"For me, the best part of it is the satisfaction I get when I tell the judges that I got my guy," Melson said.
"It's interesting, and you can be your own boss. You can choose your own work. If you do it long enough and become experienced, it can be a good life," Hammers said.
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