As you were having dinner with your father, you saw a guy looking into the restaurant that you could swear you have never seen before, but you still knew his face. For some reason, later that night, his face popped into your mind again, and you remembered seeing a fugitive show featuring five felons that had gone into hiding as soon as they got out of jail on bail. You wondered if the gun the man held really did go off on accident or if there had been a fight. So, now that you know you saw a wanted fugitive, and the local government is looking for him, what do you do? Why is it important for you to notify anyone or get involved?

Skipping Bail

Bail is a legal contract between the court, the bond company, and the accused defendant that if the defendant gets released from jail while waiting for trial, he or she will attend all required meetings with the court. That means the defendant will not disappear or go into hiding, but sometimes they do.

Losing Money

The issue is money. When anyone takes a bond out with a bail bonds near me Allentown PA, the arrested person or the family pays a 10% non-refundable fee to secure the loan of the full amount of the bail. That means that a $50,000 bond would require $5,000 from the family. If the accused misses his or her court appointments, the bond company must pay the entire bail amount to the court. That means the company is out the full amount for whatever it was they guaranteed in the contract. In the example above, the amount the bail company would lose is $45,000.

Protecting Investments

With that amount of money on the line, bail agents are allowed under the laws of the state they work in to employ a bounty hunter to find, capture, and return the fugitive or bail jumper to the court. The law gives a certain amount of time for the hunt and states how much bail must be lost before a hunter can be sent to find the fugitive. The law also limits the actions allowed by the bounty hunter when trying to apprehend the escapee.

Your part in helping the state locate the bail jumper may seem small, but a phone call from you can help identify the area of the city the defendant is in. You never know, you may save another life.