Volume 15, Issue 3 Winter 2005 PRESORTED FIRST-CLASS MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sharon, PA PERMIT No. 22 TWO OLD FRIENDS Harvey Childs first met Dick Thornburgh in the middle 1970’s when Mr. Thornburgh was the U.S. Attorney in Western Pennsylvania and had developed a national reputation as the scourge of organized crime and jailed many MOB figures. White collar crimes were high on the list and it did not matter who you were. At the same time there had been a bail bond scandal in Pittsburgh were several bondsman and their cohorts wound up in jail. Bail had a horrible image and it was hard to tell who the clients were and who the bondsmen were. Harvey Childs at the time did no business in Pittsburgh but operated in most other areas of Pennsylvania. He ‘Bail Guy’ Seeking to lived 75 miles north of Pittsburgh in Mercer County and was prominent in politics in Northwestern Pennsylvania. Harvey had Have Charge Dropped managed campaigns for district attorneys, congressman, sheriffs At a recent breakfast, Harvey Childs left, and was Western Pennsylvania’s Executive Director in the re-election Richard Thornburgh, right January 11, 2005 – Fullerton, CA of President Richard Nixon in 1972. An attorney for the owner of a bail bonds company in Whittier charged When Dick Thornburgh announced that he was thinking of running for governor and was coming to Mercer County for a speech, Childs was selected to meet him at a restaurant by the interstate. While waiting with multiple felonies related to his business said Tuesday he is negotiating in the parking lot he thought that with all Thornburgh’s toughness and potential enemies that he would be with prosecutors to have the charges dropped or reduced. Mike McDonnell, traveling with body guards. Minutes later up pulled a several year old station wagon and out came Mr. who represents Adnan Yousef, owner of American Liberty Bail Bonds, said he is Thornburgh, a scholarly looking man. Childs introduced himself and told Mr. Thornburgh where they were seeking to avoid a preliminary hearing for his client and is in negotiations with prosecutors. going for his address to a large republican group. Childs then decided quickly to let Mr. Thornburgh know what he did for a living before they even reached his car. When Childs told him the story, Thornburgh Yousef, who billed himself as “The Bail Guy” in radio advertisements, was arrested in September, along with answered casually and said, “We know who you are, Harvey, you cleaned up the bail business in many parts his three sons and two business associates. of Pennsylvania and gave it legitimacy as a part of the justice system.” Childs somewhat stunned by Mr. The group is facing 28 counts related to illegal business practices, according to prosecutors and court Thornburgh’s answer told Mr. Thornburgh that he appreciated the compliment. Mr. Thornburgh then told documents. Prosecutors allege company officials engaged in strong-arm tactics to pressure clients into using Harvey to call him Dick. They shook hands and that began an almost life-long adult friendship with both Dick and his wife. When he ran for Governor Harvey was very active in the campaign, after winning the the company’s services. Yousef and the others appeared for a hearing in North Orange County Court in election Childs’ wife was named Chairman of the Inaugural activities. Following his second term as Governor Fullerton, during which a judge ordered some personal property returned to him. The group was ordered to he was appointed by President George Bush Sr. as United States Attorney General and instituted many return to court March 4 when a date will be chose for the preliminary hearing if negotiations between the two changes in the National Justice System. Today, you see him on the Larry King show and he is a legal expert sides fail. Meanwhile, the company has been suspended, by order of the state Department of Insurance. A for various television networks. He now is one of the head lawyers in the liquidation of Enron, the largest spokeswoman for the department said the company’s appeal will be heard in a Los Angeles courtroom January bankruptcy in history. 30. and she gave this address.” She said that the police arrived quickly, and that two officers came to her New Program has Bondsmen The Wrong Woman door. She said the bounty hunter “approached the police and said, ‘She’s lying about her Social Security July 6, 2005 – Rutherford, NJ worrying about the Future of their Jobs number,’ and I said I’m not lying.” The Police Department said it is investigating an And when the bounty hunter showed the photo The Stuart News/Port St. Lucie News (Stuart, FL) accusation by a borough woman that she was kidnapped of the woman they were looking for to the police officers, MARTIN COUNTY EDITION on June 28th by bounty hunters while three borough “the cop said, ‘Oh, yes, it’s her,’” Santana said. That’s November 25, 2005 Friday police officers watched and did nothing to help. Claudia when the bounty hunters ordered Santana to get dressed Santana said it was a case of mistaken identity that and handcuffed her behind her back and escorted her to the van, Santana said. “Nobody told me why I was Eligible defendants would strap on a tracking bracelet instead of having to pay to get out of jail. caused two bounty hunters to show up near midnight on June 28th. She said borough officers, whom she had being arrested,” she said. “They took me out of my house St. Lucie County bail bondsmen want to lock out a new program they say could turn into a get-out-of-jail- called to protect her, stood by while the bounty hunters, without knowing why, and the police just stood there.” free card for suspects. The bondsmen recently whose identities could not be determined Tuesday, took The bounty hunters refused to let her husband her away in handcuffs. The men released her outside get in the van with her, Santana said. He followed behind spoke out against a program that uses a satellite the Dover police station when they realized their mistake, in his car, she said. She said she cried out to them, tracking system to keep tabs on suspects, which she added. “We are aware of the incident that occurred,” “Don’t I have the right to speak to a lawyer? He said ‘No, Police Chief Steven Nienstedt said. “A complete and we have to take your fingerprints.’” In Dover, the men they fear will steal away business. The program, thorough investigation is under way.” parked outside the police station. The “supervisor” which will start in December, is designed to Santana said she wants an apology from the bounty hunter went into the station with all of Santana’s monitor defendants while they wait for trial by Rutherford police first. She said she has not decided identification and came out 10 minutes later. “He said, what her next step will be but, “I want to find out what ‘I’ll be good to you but if you keep crying, you’ll make strapping a GPS tracking device on their ankle my rights are.” “What [the police] did was wrong,” she me upset, and I’ll change my mind,’” Santana said The and making them carry a one-way cell phone. said. “The police are not protecting me; they are man took her handcuffs off and “I jumped out of the protecting themselves.” Nienstedt said he count not van,” Santana said. “They didn’t explain it was a mistake. St. Lucie County Bail Bondsman Association comment on the particulars of the case but said the He kept saying he’s doing me a favor.” President Mitchell Hilburn said Wednesday he investigation would take several more days. Santana And then the two men drove off, she said, leaving feels his business, along with the businesses said her husband woke her on the night of June 28th her outside the police station. “He left me in the street,” and asked her to come to the door, where she saw a she said. The Dover Police Department and the Morris of the other 77 registered bail bondsmen in the man who had a gun at his hip and a flashlight in his County Prosecutor’s Office didn’t return calls for county, will be affected by the program. "We hand. Another man stood in her front yard behind a tree, comment. The bounty hunters apparently were looking she said. for Claudia Patricia Rincon, wanted since 2003 for jumping feel it will replace or seriously hurt the private “He said ‘Are you Claudia Santana?’ and I said bail after being accused of embezzling $69,000. She business of bail bondsman," he said. "I'm scared ‘Yes’,” Santana said. “He flashed his light in my face.” remains at large. Santana said that she called the Dover Police and that I'm going to lose a customer base at the taxpayer expense." Several bondsmen, including Hilburn, spoke Santana said the man, who did not identify himself and only quickly flashed a badge, showed her a photo of a the officer she spoke with told her she had been against the program at Tuesday's County Commission meeting as well. County Criminal Justice Coordinator woman that had been printed from a computer. She said “kidnapped,” she said. “He was the only person to tell Mark Godwin said the purpose of the program is not to replace the county's bond industry but to offer he asked her if the woman in the photo was her, and me it was wrong,” she said.