Why, oh why...

... do bondsmen insist on calling everything a B.O.B??????

Gotta blow off some steam here. A B.O.B. should be simple. One address, maybe 2, and we get the guy. The bondsmen always say it's that simple, anyway. In my opinion, if it isn't that simple it ain't really a B.O.B.

We're after a guy now that got arrested back in December and bonded out. That bondsman B.O.B.'d him and our client bailed him again. (Hello?) I don't know how they conduct business, but apparently his girlfriend did all the paperwork and he never so much as went into the office. He was supposed to go in and do his part later, and never did. He also never made his payments, nor did his girlfriend. So the bondsman waited three weeks before calling us. We got the file Wednesday, and it turns out the last time anyone saw him was Tuesday. Funny how that works.

Now we've put in 30 man-hours or so on this guy trying to track him down and he's a ghost. We've been in his house, and there's no sign that he's ever been there. We've been to his workplace and he's called in sick since Wednesday.

If the damn bondsman had just called us sooner it woulda been a simple pickup. Now they're going to have to pay forfeiture rates on what is still, technically, a B.O.B. Which has brought in no money at all.

Cretins.

Yes We Can (or "Don't Tell Me My Job")

Got the call Wednesday night for a B.O.B. (bondsman off bond) pickup. A B.O.B. is when the bondsman is uncomfortable with the situation for whatever reason and no longer wants to be responsible for the Bailee. It could be because they have reason to believe the Bailee is planning to flee, as in a recent arrest in Lancaster (someone remind me to tell that story sometime), or the Bailee is not checking in as they are supposed to, or misses payments. The bondsman has broad discretion to drop the bond at any time.

B.O.B. arrests are usually simple affairs, as the Bailee is not yet a fugitive and doesn't usually have reason to expect us, so isn't hiding. That depends on the bondsman, though, and if they don't play it right they can spook the Bailee.

This one was supposed to be a simple one, and the bondsman went with me to the bailee's address Wednesday night. No-one was home, and we ran down a few other possibilities with no luck. Then Thursday night after a promotional photo shoot we went back out (The Boss, Miss M, Master P, me, and some local talent that fills in sometimes) and tried again. Still not home.

Then last night I got the call at half past midnight that Doc had spotted the Bailee's vehicle at his address. I headed down to pick up The Boss, and we met Doc at the house. The Bailee wasn't home, but his wife was. It took convincing to get her to open the door, but she finally did, after calling the police. We searched the house and he wasn't there, and she kept police dispatch on the phone the whole time. She kept telling us we couldn't be there (wrong) and didn't want to give us any information about her husband. When the cop got there he explained to her that we could go there any time, and that didn't help her mood much. Finally the dispatcher broke in and said "Ma'am, why are you acting like this?"

Eventually we got her to tell us he was at his parents' house, but wouldn't tell us where it was. Unbeknownst to her, we already had the address of his parents' house in Lancaster. Just before we set out, Doc's Suburban broke down. The Boss and I called in Miss M and another local guy, who met us at my place and we headed to the desert.

The rest is boring. We got there, pounded on the door, he came out, and I'm typing this on the way back to L.A.