Anonymous March 11, 2015 at 8:31 PM
By Juan Montoya
We wondered how much truth there was to that comment sent to us by one of our three readers to this blog last March 11.
So we made a request for information of the Pre-Trial Release Services Department and its director Kevin Saenz to find out which defendants accused of what criminal offences were released at the reduced 3 percent rates offered by the county. We also wanted to find out who had Failed To Appear for trial afterwards.
Saenz said that the forfeiture rates for the pre-trial release bonds is around 5 percent, a level he considers within acceptable levels.
However, of the 32 forfeitures last year (from January to December 2014), 10 involved theft or burglary, seven were charged with possession of marijuana, and the other offenses ranged from assault, criminal trespass, resisting arrest, unlawfully carrying a weapon, escape from custody, forgery, theft of a motor vehicle, possession of a controlled substance making a false report to police and even one defendant charged with prostitution.
The 39-year-old woman charged with prostitution was provided with a $1,000 bond, which meant she had to raise $30 to go free.
We don't know what the going rate is for a trick in downtown Browntown, but $30 is a manageable rate, we would think. We hope there was no problem with STDs.
All in all, the outstanding bond forfeiture by the PTRS for 2014 was $193,000, with five of the defendants caught through incidental arrests by law enforcement entities that lowered that amount to $122,000 outstanding from those failing to appear for trial.
Even then, the 32 bond forfeitures for 2014 doubled the rate in 2013, when the department showed that only 16 defendants failed to appear.
The PTRS records show that four were charged with theft, burglary of a habitation, two with DWI, one reckless driving, criminal mischief, harassment, and possession of a controlled substance. The total in bond forfeitures for that year was $145,250, lowered as a result of arrest of the defendants to $82,250.
Unlike commercial bond companies, no one collects from the county or threatens to put the bond function of the department out of business.
3 comments:
Located on an international border, who the fuck would ever think about bolting? Of course, Mexico is noted for its highly professional and disciplined law enforcement as well... This is like asking ducks if they ever think about going for a swim.
Those figures are no where near the real numbers! Mr. Montoya we invite you to come to Municipal Court every morning and see for your self how everyone gets a free a attorney. Free to the defendant's but costing the tax payer. They rotate attorneys on a weekly basis which means by the end of the week those attorneys just picked up 20 to 30 clients at tax payers expense $150.00 a pop do the math! Tell me this is not a racket!
Municipal Judges are even ordering Pre-Trial bonds at 1% and PR bonds are being given to just about anyone matter the type of crime. Some one needs to look into this racket. Where is the District Attorney when we need him where is his so called Public Corruption unit!!!
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