Maryland Bail Bonds Blog

Big Boyz Bail Bonds took the streets of Fells Point this week to make sure our staple, that everyone associates Baltimore with, was out in full force in all the bars, restaruants and liquor stores. Our infamous Big Boyz Pens are literally everywhere. When you see them out and about for the Fells Point Festival, take a pic and tweet @bigboyzbail on twitter!

Here is a shot of a few folks from out of town, who are now ready to rock out in Big Boyz fashion this weekend:

Look out for our Pen Car and Escalades marked in Big Boyz logos for all your favorite Baltimore Bail Bonds gear!

A bail bondsman's primary responsibility in Maryland is to ensure that the defendant comes back to court to face trial. What we have been noticing time and time again is that "bail bondsmen" are bailing people out without a care in the world as to whether they appear or not. They are only concerned with attempting to collect their fees.

Lets take a look at a specific example:
Mr. Bail Bonds posted a $50,000 bail for a defendant named Kimberly Jones (reference case number: 1c00342840) Her case history information can be seen below:

We would like you to take notice that this defendant has failed to appear for trial on 07/21/2011. In other words she has an open warrant for her arrest and potentially poses a danger to herself or the general public.

Let's now take a gander at the civil case that was filed on 09/23/2011 by the bail bondsman against the above mentioned defendant. The bail bonds company is suing the defendant for $4,500 (or the remainder of the 9% fee that was never paid):

What can we deduct from these images? This defendant has been MIA for over 2 months now and the primary focus here for the bondsman is collecting the remainder of the bail premium, and not recovering the fugitive. There are, of course, significant questions that arise from this:

-What, if anything, has the bondsman done to try and recover the defendant?
-Why is the civil suit (filed 2 months after the date of the FTA) only for $4,500 when the defendant forfeited on $50,000?
-Does the bail bondsman care that $50,000 is at stake? Or, is it not their money at risk?
-Is this how we want to serve the general public as Maryland Bail Bondsmen?

It's pretty easy to see what's going on here. And this is just one example of many that unfortunately take place in this industry. Posting bail bonds for 1% down is not the crime here. Complete disregard or interest for making sure your defendants appear, and solely caring about the fee is at the core of the problems that plagues the business as a whole.

The Baltimore Sun has reported the killing of a woman who worked in the Bail Bonds industry here in Maryland. It is undoubtedly a sad day for those of us who are involved in this dangerous business every day, even for those of us who did not directly know the victim.

In thinking about this tragedy that took place the other day in Columbia, it is hard not to think about the ways in which this could have been avoided. Allegedly, this bail bondswoman was picking up a payment from a client of hers when the shooting took place. Picking up payments is something that was done regularly by bail bonds outfits many years ago. Nowadays, most bail bonds companies require their clients to bring the payments to their offices, send them in the mail, or pay online.

Unfortunately, the bail bonds business is set up in a way that somebody, like the victim in this case, can conduct their business as a 1 person show. Anybody and everybody is a bail bondsman or bail bondswoman today. Heck, you might be living next to one and never even know it. The industry is so loosely regulated that any person with a cell phone and a connection can call a bail in to somebody in order to release an incarcerated and potentially violent defendant.

Nichole McNair, the victim in this case, was an example of a 1 person operation. No articles yet have mentioned her tied directly to any particular bail bonds company. And that is because she isn't. The fact that people are acting alone in a 24 hour business where the tasks are endless is telling of the many problems that exist in this industry.

Let's think about if this scenario would ever be feasible:
Nichole McNair, a single mother, responsible for meeting with clients, answering phones, doing applications, picking up payments, bailing defendants from jail, spending hours at courthouses and jails, explaining warrants, guiding individuals through the court system, managing files, tracking bail jumpers; and all of this before she could even get her kids to school. What is going on here? Is this lady super woman? Maybe she was. But from the perspective of this company these tasks and more are challenging for a staff of 25+ full-time employees, let alone one mother of 3.

Everybody has a right to do what they want within the means of the law to earn an honest living. Ms. McNair had every right to participate in the bail bonds business if that is what she wanted to do with her life. Maryland government has to ask themselves if they want somebody like Ms. McNair to take on the endless responsibilities and dangers associated with this business.

One would hope that the State of Maryland would have higher expectations of bail bonds companies that guarantee defendant's appearance in court. Acting alone in this business is a recipe for disaster in more ways than one. The authorities need to take a more pro-active role in ensuring the integrity of this business, and this whole incident could have possibly been avoided.

A side note: A simple court search shows that Ms. McNair has posted a total of 7 bail bonds by herself in her history. And she is labeled as a bail bondswoman.

You never know what can happen at any given moment in the Maryland Bail Bonds business. We certainly weren't expecting to be bailing out a former Baltimore Raven who helped us win our only super bowl in team history.

When we got the word that Jermaine Lewis (ex receiver and kick returner of the Ravens) was arrested in Baltimore County detention center, Big Boyz Bail Bonds sprung to action.

Jermaine Lewis was arrested after a tip that a man was driving wrecklessly and ran over a sign. Baltimore County police arrived at Lewis's home to question him about the incident. You can see more details about the circumstances of the arrest on the Baltimore Sun Crime Blog.

Jermaine Lewis is free on $50,000 bond thanks to our Towson Bail Bonds Agent who acted hastily to get Lewis's feet back on the streets. In addition we waited for Mr. Lewis to be released from the Towson Jail to have him sign the necessary paperwork needed for his bond.

Big Boyz Bail Bonds has just received an order of 400,000 of our iconic FREE Pink and Yellow Bail Bonds pens.

We will be packing up the Big Boyz Pen Car and they will be coming to a business or store near you! If you would like to request some pens, please go to our Free Pen Request Page.

Here is a shot of the truck load of boxes of pens that was delivered to our 24 hour Anne Arundel County Bail Bonds office

D.R. Belz writes a humorous piece about our iconic Pink and Yellow Big Boyz Bail Bonds Pens. Check out the article below:

Sigh Here

At a stoplight outside the Beltway comes a Mini Cooper decorated like a box of fireworks. Atop the car is a giant pink and yellow Big Boyz Bail Bonds pen, looking at first like a guided missile.

You imagine The Jolly Green Giant making bail:

Big Boyz: "OK, Mr. Giant, just sign here."

Jolly Green Giant: "Ho, ho, ho!"

Big Boyz: "No--not with that pen!"

Look up the word "ubiquitous" in the dictionary and you'll see a picture of the pink and yellow Big Boyz pen.

Then you think: But why flood the world with a tchotchke promoting a service for such a small niche market? How many people in the Baltimore area could actually need to post bail each year?

"It's marketing," one of the Big Boyz, who's normal size, tells me.

Well, yeah. But 500,000 pens?

Bug scientists say 17-year cicadas emerge by the millions, and no matter how many the birds eat, the things will live to reproduce by the millions. This numerical logic drives the pen promotion. In the future, when giant cockroach archaeologists excavate Central Maryland, here's what they'll find: Ravens jerseys and Big Boyz pens.

My dream is a nighttime ride-along with the "Pen Car," as they call it, cruising through Halethorpe and Landsdowne, the giant pink and yellow pen glowing atop the little rolling sideshow.

Big Boyz: "Lefty's house is up here on the right."

Me: "Why do they call him 'Lefty?'"

Big Boyz: "Everybody at the rendering plant's called 'Lefty.'"

The individual Big Boyz pen has become--what's the word?--iconic. My 20-something daughters think they are edgy, cool. My 16-year-old son covets a Big Boyz T-shirt. As do my 50-something writer friends.

"We're trying to brand it," one of the Big Boyz says. "Want some pens?"

I'd say it's working.

On September 23, 2002 George Earl failed to appear for court in Baltimore City. Our warrant apprehension team spent a tremendous amount of time and money searching for Mr. Earl. Their investigation would lead them from Baltimore to Ohio, Kentucky and finally West Virginia where they ultimately located and arrested him.

During the apprehension Mr. Earl stated that he was already arrested in West Virginia (in 2003) for the warrants from Baltimore and that he had paperwork from Baltimore stating that they will not extradite him from West Virginia. Mr. Earl had three outstanding warrants, one from Baltimore County for misdemeanor possession of cocaine, one in Baltimore City for driving uninsured and another from Baltimore City for violation of probation on a drug charge backing up a one year suspended sentence.

Big Boyz Bail Bonds had an obligation to the District Court of Maryland to produce him in court even if it has been almost ten years later and no matter where he was in the United States it is our job to locate and produce him for court. I think it is quite clear that our Maryland Bail Bonds Company takes its job as Bail Bondsmen very seriously and will go to great lengths to locate and produce our fugitive defendants no matter where they run and hide.

Our warrant apprehension team locates and returns fugitives from all across the United States and has even located and caused the arrest of fugitives in Canada as well as Kenya, Africa.

To our surprise, another Baltimore Bail Bonds company posted bail for the defendant even considering he had been on the run for over 9 years! All we can say to them is good luck! Below is a deatiled case history:

As Baltimore County Bail Bondsmen, we are always in the Towson Commissioners office taking notice of citizens reporting to the District Court Commissioner to be read their rights after recently being issued traffic tickets by the police. When pulled over in Maryland and you have been issued traffic citations, and at least one carries the possibility of jail time, you are instructed to report to the commissioner within 3 days.

The primary purpose of reporting is to learn your rights and be told that you are looking at a possible jail sentence if convicted of the charge. The confusing thing for most people is that often times you will get multiple tickets, but not every ticket carries a possible jail sentence. Some tickets, such as speeding, negligent driving, or fail to stop at stop sign are all payable citations. You can either pay the tickets, or fight them in court.

Many people think that if they pay their traffic tickets, they do not have to show up to court. Very few take into consideration that they have at least one "must appear" traffic offense that they cannot just simply pay. Examples of "must appear" traffic offenses are: DUI's, DWI's driving while license is suspended or revoked, driving an uninsured vehicle etc. If you do not show up to court for this type of an offense a judge will issue a bench warrant for your arrest.

By paying non-jailable traffic citations in advance you are admitting guilt to those offenses. If you have to show up for the "must appear" traffic citation anyway it makes most sense to fight all traffic citations at the same time. It is very possible a judge could waive or lower a fine at the time of court. So get a quality Maryland Traffic Attorney to fight it on your behalf.

If you happened to miss court for a "must appear" traffic offense, please call our Baltimore Bail Bonds Office to learn about the quickest turn-in and bail out service around. We promise to be able to get your Baltimore County warrants served and your bail posted quicker than any other bondsman in the state.

Once again, for better or for worse, the bail posting process has changed in Baltimore County. It was just a few days ago that a Towson Bail Bondsman could walk into the commissioners office and post bails for 3 different defendants at the same time. The process itself would take an average of 20 minutes or so depending on how busy the commissioners were at the time the bails were being posted.

Now, licensed bail agents of Baltimore County are allowed to post just one bail at a time. In addition to this, the bail paperwork must be faxed over to the jail for the defendant to sign authorizing his bail being posted. This part of the process alone can take over an hour easily. Before the next bail can be processed the bail agent must drive the release to the Baltimore County Detention Center so it can be hand delivered to a correctional officer there. From the time that the jail has the release it can take roughly another 3 hours for the defendant to be released from custody.

This changes things significantly for the bail posting industry of Baltimore County. For our clients, this could potentially delay the process of their loved ones significantly. Some Bail Bondsmen are going to be forced into making decisions as far as which bond is to be posted and which has to wait in line.

There are many bail bondsmen in this state that are one-man-operations. If one of these so called bondsmen were to ever get more than one bail at a time it would inevitably hold somebody else from getting released quicker. One can be assured that Big Boyz Bail Bonds of Towson Maryland has a plethora of licensed bail agents that are willing to individually post your bail. If we have 5 bail bonds to post in Towson we will have 5 bail agents there to post them simultaneously.

Thanks to the head judge of Baltimore County, by implementing this change it is forcing Towson Bail Bondsmen to show their cards. Unlicensed bail bondsman will not be able to call in their bails to a general posting agent as efficiently anymore because they will consistently be behind 10-15 other bails ahead of them. As a result, their clients will grow tired of waiting 2 days for an individual's bail to be posted.

Even most licensed bail bondsmen don't want to spend money in gas driving to Towson or even wait the 2 hours it might take to post the bail. It was so much easier to just call the bail into someone else to take care of it; well not anymore! If you want to make sure you bail bond is posted in a timely fashion in Towson, call Big Boyz Bail Bonds now! We have licensed bail bondsmen on stand-by.

In a recent New York Times article on Bail Bonds, it is discussed how particular bondsmen in New York take advantage of their clients needing bail posted. One particular bondsman, named George Zouvelos, is accused of adding clauses in his bail contract allowing him to charge families additional fees down the road. One particular example is when he decides to revoke a bond (also known as putting the defendant back in jail) at the client's expense. According to the article, there doesn't need to be a reason for the bondsmen to do this nor does he receive a penalty for doing so. One bondsman is quoted as saying: "If I bail a guy out today and I don't like him, I can put him back in jail, and it's O.K. to me, that's screwed up."

For licensed elite Maryland Bail Bondsmen, it is not as simple to revoke a bond. Although many people needing bond in Maryland carry the false pretense that throwing somebody back in jail is a straightforward process. Here in Maryland we have many rogue bail bondsmen who will call up their clients threatening to put their loved ones back in jail if they fail to make payments on their bond. This is nothing more than a worthless threat. This is primarily because the bondsman doesn't want to face the ensuing penalty.

In Maryland, bondsmen are forced to pay a penalty to the courts in order to revoke a bond. In order to revoke a bond in Maryland, the bondsman is forced to pay the 10% premium that they were required to collect at the onset of doing the bail. The state of Maryland implements this to prevent bondsmen from doing what they are apparently doing in New York. As a result of this, very few bails in Maryland are ever revoked. Most bondsmen don't have the money or care to put someone back in jail when many aren't even liable for the defendant to show up for court in the first place.

One significant parallel to the article written in the New York Times as it relates to bail in Maryland is the lack of regulation being taken by the Insurance Administration that is supposed to oversee and police the industry. As a result of this, we have "bondsmen" acting without proper licensing, without physical office locations, and convicted felons with extensive criminal backgrounds acting as the main decision makers as to which inmates get released and for what price.

Because of the lack of regulation in the Maryland Bail Bonds industry, it is actually the consumers who are benefiting for a multitude of reasons. Because of these advantages, the Maryland State Insurance Administration does not receive even close to the number of complaints that the New York State Insurance Department receives. Therefore bondsmen work in a war zone with virtually no rules because there appears to never be any repercussions for their actions. The only time the Maryland Insurance Administration might receive a complaint is when a family member attempting to post bail is had by one of these "bondsmen" who actually aren't bondsmen and are essentially robbing the family member without any force.

Over the weekend it was reported by the Baltimore Sun that Baltimore Ravens' linebacker Sergio Kindle was arrested in Howard County on a DUI charge. The charging documents state that Kindle blew a .17 which is over twice the legal limit in Maryland of .08. Kindle has been on the non-football related injury list all year from a fall down two flights of stairs before training camp was set to start that resulted in a fracture of his skull.

Kindle was taken to the Howard County Detention Center early in the morning to see the district court commissioner. Much like Baltimore singing artist Mario, Kindle was given a personal pledge bond in the amount of $10,000. The Baltimore Sun article reports simply that Kindle was given a $10,000 bond and posted it (it does not explain how). He did not use a bail bondsmen, cash or property; rather, he was allowed to sign a document stating he would pay $10,000 to the state of Maryland only if he were to fail to appear for court.

So what are the possible reasons Kindle was given this luxury over most people who are arrested on similar charges. During the arrest, it was noted that he was driving a vehicle with Texas tags. This would signify to a commissioner that he is a potential flight risk. He was also well above the legal limit, he very easily could have hurt somebody on the road that morning.

However, due to his professional athlete status, he is not considered a flight risk or a danger to the public. If he wants to hang on to his spot in the prestigious NFL he will certainly appear back for court and make sure something like this doesn't happen again. To force somebody like Kindle to use a Howard County Bail Bondsman would be pretty ludicrous for these reasons.

Baltimore Bail Bonds Company Big Boyz Bail Bonds is proud to announce that as in years past, we will stay open on all of the major holidays. We were up and running on Turkey day and plan on keeping our services available on Christmas and even on New Years.

Many bail bonds companies in Baltimore advertise that they stay open 24/7 but that is hardly the case. Even on non-holidays you may find your near-by bondsman has a note on his door that says more or less, "I don't want to be bothered - go call a legitimate company like Big Boyz." Rest assured you can know that Big Boyz Bail Bonds will never do something like this. Our doors will remain open to the public that wish to inquire about our rapid bail bonds services.

This is a time of year that we hope family and friends can come together, enjoy the holidays, and stay out of trouble, for the most part. However, Big Boyz Bail Bonds knows that anything is possible on any given day (even the holidays) and that is why we are here to help.

We know that nobody wants to be arrested for the holidays and most people don't want to work on the holidays either. There are many bonds companies that will lie to potential clients and tell them that jails and court houses are shut down for the holidays so bails cannot be posted. This is not the case! Be sure to call a reputable bail bonds company to obtain correct information in regards to bail this holiday season.

From everyone at Big Boyz Bail Bonds we hope you have a safe and enjoyable holiday season!

Many of the cases that skip bail for us are instances where defendants appear for court and are found guilty, but told by the circuit court judge that they can report back later to begin serving time. For bail bondsmen who are actually liable for the bonds they post this is an unfortunate fact.

From what we understand this is something between judges and attorneys that make the attorney "look better" for their client. Even though the attorney did not win the case, they were able to work out an agreement with the judge which allotted the defendant time to get everything in order before checking in to the respective detention center. In some instances, this can mean buying time to pack up your things and get out of town.

This, to a legitimate Maryland Bail Bonds Company, causes many headaches and makes our fugitive recovery agents work overtime to locate defendants who fail to appear for sentencing hearing. One might think that bail bonds companies in Maryland would unite together and try to enforce new legislation and require the possibility of a new bond to be posted in order to come back for sentencing.

The reason Maryland Bail Bondsmen do not unite on this idea is because over 80% of the companies out there are not liable for the bonds that they post. So what do they care if the defendant doesn't appear? It's somebody else's problem. Here is a parramount instance where the bail bonds system fails and is why so many people view this industry in a negative light.

When a defendant shows up for court and they are found guilty it is a completely different circumstance than when we posted the original bond. Initially, you are innocent until proven guilty. When you are guilty, you are guilty!

Of course there are convicted people out there who actually use their time accordingly to get their finances in order and make sure their families are ok while they are in jail. But in many cases these situations produce unnecessary warrants that add to an already high total of open warrants thanks primarily to the non-liable bail bondsmen that don't care to look for them.

Check out Big Boyz Bail Bonds Pens being used by ABC 2 News team!

Big Boyz Bail Bonds posted a bond in Baltimore City Central Booking for a defendant from Montreal, Canada. The defendant was here for a college sailing regatta that was supposed to take place in Annapolis. Unfortunately for our client, he was unable to compete due to being arrested in Baltimore City on very petty misdemeanor charges. The charge is considered "a college prank" by his attorney Brian Thompson of Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin, and White.

The Baltimore Sun has written an interesting article as a result of this event questioning the functionality of the bail system. Our client was not the only person arrested during this event. There were three people in total being charged with the same charges. One commissioner set bail in the amount of $1,000 for a female. The two males involved received a $175,000 bail. Big Boyz Bail Bonds posted one of the males. The other defendant hired former federal prosecutor Andy White of Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin, and White to represent him at bail review. The bail review judge lowered the bond in line of the female co-defendant and set his bond at $1,000.

There is certainly a lot of information that a district court commissioner has to take into consideration when setting a bail for a person charged with a crime. The two underlying factors are the defendant's ability to show up for court and if the defendant poses a danger to himself or the public. With our client being from Canada, there is certainly some element of flight involved. With the "college prank" nature of the charges, many would argue that these accused defendants are not a danger at all. So how does one commissioner set bail at $1,000 and the next set bail at $175,000?

Any way you look at it. This is one of MANY issues concerning the bail bonds system here in Maryland. There are arguments that can be made that the state could survive without corporate bail while others would argue it's an absolute necessity in a city with an overflow crime rate. We hope that everyone reads the article to gain some additional perspective on this industry as a whole.