In June 2016, Cedar Rapids police responded to a 911 call reporting akidnapping on the Kaplan University campus.
Witnesses told police thattwo assailants armed with shotguns had attacked a man, loadedhim into a silver Volkswagen and drivenaway.
The windshield of a student's car was broken in the scuffle. The campus was placed on lockdown.
Theassailants turned out to be Lord Stephen Alexander Range, 33, a bail bondsman from Cedar Rapids, and an associate, who were apprehending a bail jumper.
The pair was stopped by police hours later, after they'd dropped their subject at the Linn County Jail. A 12-gauge shotgun loaded with rubber buckshotand a .45-caliberhandgun loaded with bullets were found insidethe vehicle.
Police arrestedRange's associate, a convicted felon who wasthe subject ofactive warrants out of Buchanan County. But Range, who had an expired permit to carry a weapon, was not arrested, and the incident did not affect hisstate-approved authority to issue bail bonds and pursue those who fail to pay.
From high-speed chases to reports of assaults, bail bondagents have made headlines across Iowa for controversialtactics, promptingeven those within the industryto question howthe state licenses and regulates them.
A Des Moines Register review of 192 Iowa surety bond license holdersrevealed thatnearly a quarter had at least one criminal charge or conviction in their past, rangingfrom minor offenses including public intoxication and criminal mischief to more serious crimes such as assault and drug distribution.
“It was fascinating to me how many bail bondsmen I have found that are convicted felons. It’s absolutely extraordinary,” said Jeffrey “Kip” Fennelly, a former Warren County sheriff’s deputywho now works as a bail bond agent. He owns Custom Solution Investigations, based in Indianola, and is anassistant wrestling coach at Simpson College. “(They’re) continuing to hold onto their license and have the keys to the people in jail that they’ve been in jail with.”
Bondsman vs. bounty hunter
The issue, according to some involved in the industry, is whether state lawmakers ever intendedforbonding agents to be the people who trackdown sometimes dangerous fugitives.
In Iowa,bonding agentsare licensed by the Iowa Insurance Division, which alsolicensesthe state's insurance agents, financial advisers and funeral services agents.
There are few requirements to geta license. An applicant must be at least 18 years old, take an exam, pay a $50feeand pass the same background check required of the 116,000 other licensed insurance producers in the state.
State law lists 18 reasons the division may deny, suspend or revoke a license.Most involve violations ofinsurance laws and other financial crimes like forgery, as well asfailureto pay college loans or child support.A felony conviction precludes most applicants, but the insurance commissioner has discretion to grant a license to applicants with a felony record.
Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen admits that some applicants who shouldbe disqualified are getting through the system, andlicense holders who arecharged with crimes are not reporting their offenses to the division as required.
“There may be people on the rolls that, if that application were to come to me, I wouldn’t give them the license,” he said.
Not all of the state's surety bond license holdersare involved in the bail bonds industry. Other types ofbusinesses usebonds, such asa construction company that gets alicense to assure a financial lender on a project.
According to the insurance division, it has no way to determinehow many ofits license holders are issuing surety bonds to bail clients out of jail.
Those who do typically require that clientsput down 10 percent of their total bail amount.If the clientshows up forcourt, the bond is exonerated and the bondsman keeps the 10 percent as a fee. But, if the clientdoesn’t show, the court holds the bondsman responsible for the total bail amount.
When someone skips out on court, a bail bondsman has two options: Pay the court or track down the client and drag him or her back to jail.
“That bond has to be paid by somebody,"said James “Texas Jim” Hendrickson of 1 Bail Bonds in Winterset. “It’s in your best interest as a bondsman to get the money back.”
But Iowahas a second type of license — forbounty hunters— to governindividuals who apprehendwanted fugitives and bail jumpers for reward money.
The Department of Public Safetyissues bounty hunterlicenses through a more stringent licensing process.Applicants must submit fingerprints that the department uses to conductanational criminal history check. Anyone with afelony or aggravated misdemeanor conviction is denied a license.
Iowa has only 30 licensed bounty hunters.
“If you have a person who is making a living out of chasing people down, you would want to ensure this is a person thathas not had fairly serious criminal convictions or convictions of moral character,” said Ross Loder, chief the Department of Public Safety’s Program Services Bureau.
But that’s not always the case in Iowa becauseso many bail bondsmen are doing the hunting. And the insurance division doesnot run the same national background check as the Department of Public Safety.
Theinsurance division does not have the authority under Iowa law to fingerprint applicants for background checks. The insurance industry has fought attempts tochange thelaw.
“Fingerprinting and criminal background checks would actually be a benefit across our regulatory responsibility,”Ommen said.
Bonding agents must reapply for licenses every three years. According to the insurance division, criminal convictions typically come to its attentionwhen applicants self-report them or when they are reported by a third party, such asan insurance company that fires an agent.
“Even improving (reapplication) from three years to two years would increase the likelihood that we’re going to move those people off of our rolls more quickly,” Ommen said.
