I-TEAM: Bail bonds company reprimanded over improper bounty hunter raid
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Nearly one year after bounty hunters showed up, surrounding Jophiner Kelly’s Baton Rouge home and an agent armed with a large gun went off the rails, the Louisiana Department of Insurance has taken action. The agency tasked with overseeing bounty hunters across the state stepped in, issuing a letter of reprimand to the bail bonds company behind the raid. According to the letter obtained by the WAFB I-TEAM, the Insurance Commissioner warns the bail bonds company, New Life Bail Bonds, Inc., that they went about things the wrong way. The letter fails to mention any consequences for the individual agents involved.
WAFB’s Scottie Hunter asked Kelly if she believes the lack of discipline for the individual agents emboldens the kind of behavior agents displayed outside her home.
“Of course,” Kelly said. “Of course it does because now they feel like they’re above the law.”
The bounty hunters showed up looking for Kelly’s son, who she says does not live at the home. Before the agents showed up, they should have alerted law enforcement first-- something they did not do. The letter from the Department of Insurance spells out if the bail bonds company does it again, there will be consequences. While she is glad the agency took some kind of action, Kelly believes it falls short.
”He has not been held accountable nor those other individuals so who’s to say what will happen the next time they enter someone’s home,” said Kelly. “If he’s not being held accountable and they’re still able to operate and make money and nothing has happened to him, he’s going to do more the next time.. and next time someone may get killed.”
While the agency took action against the bail bonds company, the agent who Kelly believes took things too far got away without even a slap on the wrist, despite how she says he terrorized her home and everyone in it.
”I’m just not satisfied and I won’t stop until he’s held accountable, especially the individual who kicked my door and cursed out my husband,” said Kelly. “That’s just unacceptable.”
Unlike with sworn police officers where people who have questionable run-ins can make direct complaints about the officer which kicks off an investigation into the officer’s actions, bounty hunters do not face the same level of scrutiny. Instead, bounty hunters act as contract workers for bail bonds companies. Thaddeus Johnson, a former police officer turned professor at Georgia State University, says that is part of the problem with having these type of agents on the street without serious oversight.
”Bounty hunters are simply private citizens who often times are unregulated, hired by private companies to carry our quasi-police and paramilitary type exercises,” said Johnson.
Kelly believes because of what she faced, more regulations need to be put in place to rein these groups in sooner rather than later.
”Restrictions need to be put in place because otherwise they are just out here doing whatever, however to whoever and not being held accountable,” said Kelly.
The complaint Kelly filed has been closed and she says she is exploring possible legal options going forward.
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