My Biz: Bonds, bail bonds

The scenario that makes it necessary to hire a bail bonds agent is pretty straightforward.

Someone gets sideways with the law, is arrested and lands in jail.

The person appears before a judge who decides whether he or she stays in jail or is released to await a trial date. The judge then decides the amount of collateral it will take to make sure that person shows up for the court date.

Posting bond usually involves a 10 percent cash layout, and this is where some people might need a little help.

Enter a bail bonds agent.

Kelly Smith has been an agent for Lederman Bail Bonds in downtown Cedar Rapids for the past 16 years.

'There are two types of bonds,' he explained, 'surety bonds and cash.'

Bail bonding is actually part of the insurance industry, and bonding agents are licensed to post surety bonds.

'What we do is put up the whole amount of the bond,' he said.

Smith said 90 percent of their business is surety bonds, and they always have a third party involved when helping a client.

'Usually it is a family member or good friend who is willing to sign on the dotted line to guarantee us the money if the defendant fails to appear before the court,' Smith added

'As an example, let's just say the bond is $5,000. We give the state of Iowa that $5,000 to hold onto until a defendant's case is over with.'

And this is where it can get sticky for a bail bonds agent.

'If somebody fails to appear, we are issued a 10-day notice and that bond that we put up is put into forfeiture status at that point,' he noted. 'It isn't forfeited yet, but it is a 'show cause' for us to go and explain why that defendant failed to appear.'

When a client doesn't show for a court date, Smith said, 'a lot of times it is just a misunderstanding, or they simply forgot what their court date was.'

But sometimes the defendants jump bail and run, and it becomes necessary to employ the services of independent contractors — 'bail enforcement agents is the new term,' Smith said. 'The old-fashioned term would be bounty hunters.'

People who do that line of work frequently are ex-military personnel and are licensed private investigators, he noted.

Lederman does post cash bonds, Smith said, 'but they are more expensive and we normally charge around 25 percent for those instead of the 10 percent (for surety bonds).'

Smith said the office can run from slim to slammed on any given day.

'Some days we don't post anything, and other days we can post 11 to 12 in one day,' he said.

'We usually see a little spike before the holidays,' Smith noted. 'Family members are more willing to post bond around that time so their loved one can be out of jail. There's just a little more good will.'

[naviga:h3 style="padding-left: 30px;"]AT A GLANCE

Office Manager: Kelly Smith

Business: Lederman Bail Bonds

Address: 108 Third Ave. SW, Cedar Rapids

Phone: (319) 366-5826

Know a business that's been in operation for at least one year that would make a good 'My Biz' feature? Contact michaelchevy.castranova@thegazette.com