KTRV Fox 12 One Bail Bond Company Considering Changes
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Caldwell, Idaho -- We now know exactly how a Meridian bail bondsman and his client -- who was involved in a gun battle with police -- died. They were killed by a single gunshot to the head.
Other bail agents are re-considering how they run their business, so as to not find themselves in a similar deadly situation.
"He called all weekend. He called four or five times. Monday, he called again," said Staci Freeman-Madron, who owns Staci's Bail Bonds in Caldwell.
Freeman-Madron is talking about Anthony Joseph Bosworth, 30. He was killed in a police shootout Wednesday after murdering his bail bondsman, Joshua Schmidt, 30.
Schmidt worked for Advantage Bail Bonds and was apparently only a bondsman for a week before being shot to death. It all began Tuesday afternoon, when Schmidt bailed Bosworth out of jail.
"Both Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Bosworth were at a bank in Meridian trying to cash a check. We believe that check was money to pay for the bond," said Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney.
Doing business that way, according to Freeman-Madron, is known as credit bail. The bondsman puts up the money to bail the person out. Then that person says he just needs to be taken to the bank to get the cash. A story Freeman-Madron heard just this week from Bosworth, whom she's bailed out four times in the past.
"He said he had $10,000 in his checkbook, but he wanted me to take him home or somewhere to get his checkbook and then to the bank. I just said, 'no Tony,'" said Freeman-Madron.
She says she operates the traditional way -- each client has a co-signer to vouch for him and she gets her money up front. But she believes more and more companies -- the larger ones -- aren't following that same practice.
"Instead of really looking out for the safety of people and the community, it's all about money and people are going to be getting killed over it," she added.
To better protect herself and her employees from a potentially dangerous situation, Freeman-Madron says she'll be changing the way she operates her business.
"There's times we've taken our clients, given them a ride home, but these are people we've known and dealt with for years and that doesn't mean nothing's ever going to happen. It just means we rarely do it, and after this incident we probably won't do it at all," she said.
We're told several bail bond companies are working on legislation for next session trying to ban credit-billing for clients.
They say Wednesday's tragic incident proves the need for clients to always pay up-front.
