Mom's Bail Bonds - Fort Worth

While many might disagree, I am actually a relatively easy-going person. Sure, I might seem serious all the time, but in reality I’m just rocking through life like most everyone else. Although this is true, there are times when I am less than acomadating to others. If I think someone has done something to wrong me or someone else, then I tend to pick a fight. Or hold a grudge. Or both.

Bondsmen, by their nature, tend to have a negative stereotype about them. Most of it is justified. But as with any profession, there are those that are very good at what they do and possess a colorable amount of integrity. There are those that seek to do the right thing. But some don't even try.

Allow me to tell you a story. This is a story of a young man charged with a violent crime, perhaps wrongfully charged, but that is of no consequence to the story. The young man gets in trouble, and friends try as they might to bond him out of jail. As with most circumstances such as these, the phone book is used. The first flashy yellow page ad and the first person to say “yes” to this bond request is hired. Such are the mistakes we make.

You see, the young man’s friends chose Mom’s Bail Bonds in Fort Worth to bond their wrongfully charged friend out of the Tarrant County Jail. The bond is posted, and the young man proceeds to check in with the bondsman as requested. There are no problems.

The young man then comes into my off to discuss his case and the process through which he is about to enter. I explained that given the circumstances, his first court date should be waived once he hired an attorney. He retained me, and I ensured the court date was reset. No problem. Not exactly.

It turns out that due to a clerical error, a warrant issued for his arrest despite the court date being reset. On Friday afternoon, I received a frantic call from my client. He was at his bondsman’s office and they were trying to arrest him because of the warrant. Before I could really speak to him, a woman took the phone.

This woman purported to tell me that she worked for Mom’s Bail Bonds, and she then went on tell me how to do my job, or more specifically, how I wasn’t doing my job. I was getting my client arrested. I hadn’t taken care of my business. I was letting my client be taken to jail for the weekend because I didn’t know what I was doing.

Needless to say, I wasn’t happy. I explained the situation to this woman. After this, a man took the phone. Again, the same thing. I wasn’t doing my job. If I was a real lawyer I could keep my client out of jail. I was a hack.

I don’t mind people talking about me. Some people don’t like me. Apparently we can add those at Mom’s Bail Bonds to that rather long list. But it didn’t stop there. My client was told that he would have to pay a new bond fee simply because the warrant issued. Keep in mind, my client did nothing wrong. The warrant was recalled and the original bond was reinstated. But Mom’s Bail Bond wanted more money and saw this as an opportunity to shake down a relatively poor immigrant kid.

Now, I don’t personally know the people at Mom’s Bail Bonds. Quite frankly, I don’t want to. But it’s troubling to me that a bondsman who doesn’t know me, either personally or professionally, speaks that way about me. I don’t believe I have any other clients using Mom’s Bail Bonds. If I have my way, I never will.

I did a small amount of research into Mom’s Bail Bonds here in Fort Worth. It seems the company is owned by Phil Guiles. I don’t know him. But what I gathered from my research is that it is a rather small, fly-by-night bonding company. It doesn’t seem to be terribly reputable according to the people I have spoken to. But this is the information age, and people don’t rely that much on word of mouth any more.

The most important thing I learned about Mom’s Bail Bonds is that they have no website. Nothing. Not surprising for a two-bit, hustling, wannabe bondsman.

The one thing I have learned from this blog is that blogs show up very well in search engines, like Google. Try it. Google my name. Google Cooperstown. See if the first page of Google doesn’t have a link to this blog.

The point? I don’t like Mom’s Bail Bonds. I’m not sure they should be allowed to indiscriminately hustle unsuspecting people needing a bond. I’m not sure Mom’s Bail Bonds should be able to anonymously coast through the vast space of the internet without anyone knowing something about them.

So here we are. Take this story to heart.

Ain’t Google a bitch?

Comments

[Robert Guest]

I leave for a week and you post two gems. The DWI post is especially brilliant.

Great work. Google has given defense lawyers the power that the Court of Criminal Appeals and Lege have taken away. You are doing a great service to your current, and future clients.

[shg]

You may not believe this, Shawn, but I think this may be the Phil we've been looking for over the past 10 years for stealing client's collateral when he worked as an agent for a bail bondsman in the Bronx.

No kidding.

[Matlock]

RG, happy to keep things lively while you're on vacation. Must be nice!

SG, if this truly is the same guy, then PLEASE send whomever down here to take him back. No kidding.

[Joel Rosenberg]

Mike Ford (John M. Ford; the SF writer, not the other one) used to say, "the world really isn't a small place, but it is folded funny."

[trusted source]

The problem is: everyone want's to get the cheapest price on a bail bond these days. Well, guess what? Cheapest ain't always the best. Mom's bail bonds is way cheaper than others in the business. Your not going to get much service there. All stands true: "you get what you pay for"

[Matt]

I definitely think it's unfair that you say most of the negative stereotypes about bail bondsman are true. Sure there are definitely some jerks but not most....at least not around here. If it wasn't for the fact that "clerical errors" can in fact cause a bail bonds company to forfeit its entire bail, these "overreactions" would be less frequent...It's unfortunate some innocent people on bail get detained through no fault of their own (for court errors, etc.), but likewise a bondsman needs to protect himself from a forfeiture. That's not to say that the company you referred to didn't unnecessarily strong-arm that defendant.