Bad Publicity

Here's a recent incident we should all be aware of. It's obviously going to hurt the profession here in PA, I personally don't know the parties involved or all the circumstances so I will refrain from giving an opinion.

Pittsburgh, Pa.
Monday, Dec. 27, 2004

Police probe bounty hunter killing inside North Side house
Unarmed fugitive was shot in darkened building
Saturday, December 25, 2004

By Michael A. Fuoco, Jan Ackerman and Cindi Lash, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh homicide detectives were trying to determine yesterday whether a bounty hunter was justified in shooting and killing an unarmed fugitive in a darkened North Side home Thursday evening.


Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette
Allegheny County First Assistant District Attorney Edward J. Borkowski looks over the scene on Rising Main Avenue on the North Side. On Thursday night, a bounty hunter shot an unarmed fugitive in the house near the intersection with Howard Street, adjacent to the Parkway North.
Click photo for larger image.

The victim, identified by the Allegheny County coroner's office as Michael P. Robinson, 38, was shot inside a home at Rising Main Avenue and Howard Street shortly before 7 p.m. An autopsy showed Robinson died of a shotgun wound to the pelvic area.

"It's unclear [just what occurred]. We're trying to piece things together," said Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Maurita Bryant of the investigations branch. She said investigators were consulting with the Allegheny County district attorney's office and coroner's office in the probe.

Bryant said two bounty hunters, who referred to themselves as "fugitive recovery agents," went to the home shortly before 7 p.m. armed with a fugitive warrant for Robinson.

Robinson, who authorities said had no permanent address, had skipped out on a $20,000 bond on drug and stolen property charges.

The bounty hunters, whose names were not released by police, were working for Liberty Bail Bonds Inc., Downtown, which had issued Robinson's bail bond.

Bryant said the bounty hunters told police they went to the front door and knocked. A man, whom police initially believed to be the homeowner and whose name was not released, let the men inside. The home had no heat or electricity, Bryant said. The only lights in the place were the bounty hunters' flashlights.

One of the bounty hunters went with the homeowner, who was securing a pit bull. The other bounty hunter went into the living room, where he spotted Robinson hiding behind a couch.

Bryant said the bounty hunter told police he ordered the fugitive to come out. He said he repeatedly told Robinson to show his hands, but Robinson just as repeatedly refused to do so.

At some point, the bounty hunter was able to see Robinson's hands. In one of them was an object he mistook for a weapon. He fired and struck Robinson.

It was unclear how the bounty hunter was able to fire the shotgun while also holding a flashlight or if the other bounty hunter and the homeowner witnessed the shooting.

The bounty hunters called 911 and reported the shooting. Pittsburgh police officers from the North Side station responded at 6:59 p.m. to find Robinson lying in the living room, bleeding heavily from the pelvic area. The officers performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation until paramedics arrived but were unable to revive him. Paramedics pronounced him dead at 7:28 p.m.

A spokesman who answered the phone at Liberty Bail Bonds yesterday said the company would have no comment, on the advice of its attorney. The president of Liberty Bail Bonds is George W. Lee, according to corporation records filed with the Pennsylvania Department of State.

Accompanied by city homicide detectives, First Assistant District Attorney Edward J. Borkowski visited the house yesterday, saying District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. asked him to assess the shooting scene as part of the investigation.

Borkowski and detectives did not immediately gain entry to the house, however, and Borkowski said they were trying to determine who controls it.

Police gave the address of the house as 649 Rising Main St. The house, however, is listed in Allegheny County property assessment records at 649 Howard St. Its owner is identified as Aaron Kelly, who purchased it in January 2002.

Borkowski said the house had been occupied and detectives would question the other man who was there about the shooting and about how he and Robinson came to be in the house. They also planned to further interview the bounty hunters before deciding if the shooting was justified or if charges are warranted, he said.

The square, beige-sided house sits just above the intersection of dead-end Howard Street and Rising Main, a narrow ribbon of pavement that winds up the wooded hill above the Parkway North/Interstate 279. The street is home to a Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority warehouse as well as a handful of early-1900s frame row houses.

A front window of the house was broken out and hastily boarded up and the curtains were drawn tight. Its front porch was piled with appliances and an abandoned truck was parked next door, its bed filled with dirt, leaves and debris.

Bounty hunters often are freelancers who are paid a fee to capture fugitives with outstanding warrants. The work has been romanticized in the media, especially with personalities like Duane "Dog" Chapman, self-proclaimed "greatest bounty hunter in the world," who has his own reality show on the A&E network.

But bounty hunters also have come under criticism, and even been regulated by some states because of free-wheeling behavior and occasional violent actions and mistakes.

In 1997, bounty hunters wearing ski masks and looking for a bail jumper kicked in the door of a house in Arizona and shot a young couple to death, in a case of mistaken identity.

In many states, including Pennsylvania, bounty hunters don't need licenses, training or background checks and are free of many of the strictures that govern police.

Harvey Childs, chairman of Bail USA in Greenville, Mercer County, the largest bail agency in the country, hires "bail enforcement agents," more commonly known as bounty hunters, to track down fugitives. But Childs said a good agent does not use violence and relies on police.

One of the most successful bounty hunters at Bail USA is John O'Bryon, a retired police officer who trained bomb- and narcotics-detecting dogs for the federal government.

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2001, O'Bryon shunned the tough-guy image and said he sometimes trapped a fugitive by going up to the door eating a Twinkie.

"This business is not about kicking in doors and pointing guns at people," O'Bryon said. "It's about getting along with people and getting information from them. Talking to people is mostly what I do.

"Bail USA does things quietly and we do our job without attracting attention to what we do."

"The days of the vigilante are behind us," Childs said.

According to the American Bail Coalition's Web site, four states have banned bounty hunting and 11 states require bounty hunters to be licensed. Three states have eliminated freelance bounty hunters, but allow runners who work for one bond agency at a time.

Another seven states have passed laws restricting the activities of bounty hunters.

Wow! This is a new story.

As always, I will refrain from knee-jerking up onto a band-wagon before all the facts are in.

I wasn't there, but I understand that the shooter's split-second decision will be mulled over for days, weeks, months and maybe even years as this incident unravels. If no criminal charges are filed, we can all expect a glut of family members to come out seeking justice for their lived one--who was living in a place with no electricty.

BECPA, I would greatly appreciate any effort that is designed to keep us all aprised of how this story unfolds.

Thanks,

Rex

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Bounty Hunter Kills Drug Suspect; Police Investigate

POSTED: 11:42 am EST December 27, 2004
UPDATED: 7:47 pm EST December 27, 2004

PITTSBURGH -- The Allegheny County Coroner's Office has ruled that an unarmed man shot by a bail bondsman on Pittsburgh's North Side was a victim of homicide.

However, police and prosecutors are still reviewing the Thursday night death of Michael Robinson and have not decided whether charges should be filed. Officials say a coroner's inquest will be held.


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Video: Sheldon Ingram Reports From Downtown Pittsburgh
(Includes Footage From Shooting Scene)


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Pittsburgh police said two bounty hunters tried to serve a fugitive warrant at a home on Howard Street, near Rising Main Avenue, in the city's Fineview neighborhood.

See A Map Of The Area

The warrant was issued after Robinson, 38, allegedly jumped his $20,000 bond and failed to appear on drug and stolen property charges.

The fugitive recovery agents, as the bondsmen called themselves, found Robinson in the home. One of them repeatedly asked Robinson to show his hands, then fired when he saw Robinson holding something he thought was a gun, police said.

Robinson was hit in the pelvic area with a rubber bullet from a shotgun, according to Deputy Coroner Tim Uhrich. He was pronounced dead about a half-hour later.

Neither of the bounty hunters has been publicly identified. They were working for Liberty Bail Bonds, which declined to comment Monday.

Assistant District Attorney Ed Borkowski said authorities are investigating whether the bondsmen filed necessary paperwork and followed proper procedures for apprehending Robinson.

No date has been set for the inquest.

I have been reading the articles related to this and, this is going to be a huge legal nightmare for the recovery and bonding company.

From what I have learned so far it appears the FRA involved really believed his life was in danger and acted accordingly in accordance with what the law permits any private citizen to do to protect themselves from death or serious injury, I suspect Law Enforcement would have responded the same way, I suppose he could have tried to retreat or flee but if the fugitive had a gun as the FRA believed, he could have been shot in the back while retreating. I don't know anyone involved in this incident nor have I ever had to kill or seriously injure anyone, so I have no motive other than to help protect the integrity of this profession by giving my opinion, which is, unless there is more evidence I believe there was no crime, it was a very unfortunate incident that maybe could have been avoided, but we all know hindsight is 20/20. There is no doubt that this will be a Legal disaster for those involved, I hope those in this Profession will Stand behind what they believe because as you all know that incident in AZ hurt our Profession and even though it was proven those involved were not Bounty Hunters, the Media continues to use it against us.

Chuck Jordan, BECPA

Now here's an incident that was Criminal and Hurts the image of our Profession, What were these guys thinking ? Some Bounty Hunters tried this back in "81 and ended up in serious trouble, you would think they would learn from other peoples mistakes.

November 23, 2004

U.S. bounty hunters charged

By ANDREW SEYMOUR, Ottawa Sun


Two U.S. bounty hunters who allegedly tried to smuggle an Eganville man across the border back to the U.S. a week ago have been charged by American authorities. Bail bondsmen Reginald Bailey and Robert Carden Roberts are each facing charges of trying to smuggle an illegal alien into the United States and for making "materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statements," according to U.S. court documents obtained by the Sun yesterday.

It's alleged the bondsmen handcuffed 60-year-old Kenneth Weckwerth after picking him up at his girlfriend's residence on Nov. 14 in Golden Lake, 130 km west of Ottawa.

A U.S. affidavit says Weckwerth was taken to the Rainbow Bridge crossing in Niagara Falls, where a U.S. border agent was told that all three men were U.S. citizens who had spent the past two days gambling at Casino Niagara.

But the bondsmen's claims unravelled when a border officer searched their van and discovered various pieces of identification, tucked inside a road map, indicating that Weckwerth was a Canadian citizen.

DRUG RAP

"They violated American law by trying to smuggle someone in and lie about it in doing so," said Marty Littlefield, assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York.

It's alleged Weckwerth skipped out on a $10,000 US bond after being charged with felony drug trafficking in Ohio.

Weckwerth is now being held by federal authorities in Buffalo as a material witness in the case against the bail bondsmen.

However, it's expected he'll be turned over tomorrow to New York state authorities, who will then contact Ohio authorities.

Even though he was taken from Ontario against his will, Weckwerth is not entitled to return to Canada to avoid U.S. prosecution on the drug charges, because he didn't resist entering the country.

"He entered the United States voluntarily," said Littlefield.

"It's my understanding the Department of Homeland Security will turn him over into state custody."

Ontario provincial police could also lay charges against the bondsmen and have been in contact with U.S. authorities.

Brian Weckwerth said he hasn't been in contact with his brother since his arrest and only learned through police that Ken had been taken.

BROTHER'S WORRIED

Brian Weckwerth, who is a councillor for Bonnechere Valley Twp., said he's worried for his brother and hopes the men who took him are prosecuted.

"These guys just can't come up here and take people out of Canada without the proper paperwork," he said. "Who do they think they are?"

Brian said Ken is not close with his family, adding his brother had been living in the U.S. for more than 10 years before returning to the Eganville area this summer.

The family was not aware he was wanted in the U.S.

BECPA,

This is a really great thread that you started; good job.

A couple of things:

First, review "Be Comliant or Go To Jail" (Open Forum Page). As one of the articles above relates, the authorities are checking to see if the BEAs/Bondsmen had all of their paperwork in order. If the paperwork is lacking then the arrest may not be lawful; hence the shoot may become bad because of bad paperwork!!!!!!

Second: I didn't know that a rubber bullet was used.

I'm not real big on less-than-lethal products for BE work to include the Taser due to the jury-is-still-out on whether or not the taser can be lethal. I dont want to rehash the taser talk here as it is incidental.

However, by using a rubber bullet, intent to kill may not be established; however, involuntary manslaughter may be an issue just as driving negligently can be a big problem if someone dies.

The key, from what I can tell, is that the shooter used the rubber bullet for SELF-DEFENSE and not as a tool to make an arrest.

Again, compare this thread to 'Be Compliant Or Go To Jail" and my forethought and vision should take on more clarity.

Rex

REX

If their paperwork was not in order it will certainly complicate the matter, you understood what I was getting at, If the shooting was done in Self Defense and not as a method of effecting the Arrest (which appears to be the case) then there was no crime, on the other hand if the FRA shot the Fugitive to prevent him from getting away and not in Self Defense that would be a possible criminal act since BEA's/FRA's are not Sworn Law Enforcement and thus not covered under the Fleeing Felon Law. In any event this unfortunate incident will at least likely result in possible Civil Liability for those involved as well as another black eye on this profession.
I encourage everyone to challenge any mis-information from the Media, I contacted the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and advised them that their depiction of the AZ incident was incorrect, unless we challenge them the Media will have unwarranted Public outrage again as they did in 97.

According to the Post-Gazette, the victim was shot by a shotgun in the hip and bled out. Is this just another case of the media trying to make the story more sensational? or did they really use a rubber bullet?

I also posted a similar topic last month under the open forum called "some unwanted bad PR" which had a video link to a news site about some BEA's going into the wrong house in Colorado and the DA looking into charging them with a Felony. We have almost daily news from around the country with bad PR. I put into one of my search engines key words looking for news and get responses on almost a daily basis involving BEA's and Bondsman getting into trouble.

I think you are right Chuck in reserving an opinion until this plays it way through to the end.

Also on the post by Rex "be compliant or go to jail". That is the reason we use agents from their own home states so everyone is compliant with their home states rules and regulations. In todays environment I think that this is the only way to stay out of trouble from a regulatory point of view.

Again, bail and bail enforcement is so complex that the detailed nature of the trade is lost on most, which could serve as a foundational basis for so many examples of things going wrong, according to the media.

I caught the factual discrepancy on the 97' Arizona incident, but I didn't think to forward my observation as BECPA did. Again, great job, and I'm curious if they'll print a correction.

Houndog,

I concur with your position that local BEAs should be awarded contracts in their chief AOs as they are best suited to keep abreast of their local laws, or are they? I'm not trying to be inflamatory here, but see paragraph one of this post.

What is the best measure of one's ability to do the work right? I can't say for sure, but a long track record of liability free results may be the first indicator.

At any rate, I'm equally curious as to how this incident will unravel.

Rex