PI Newswire

Please find the top 25 news stories, current events, professional opinion and insights aggregated by PI Newswire for the week ending January 22, 2012. As always there are many great articles ranging from the bizarre to educational with everything else in-between. We encourage you to comment and share your thoughts, opinions and experiences. Enjoy, have a wonderful week & stay safe!

Vote NO on HB 1006!! http://bit.ly/yJx5ic

Anonymous Goes on Megaupload Revenge Spree: DoJ, RIAA, MPAA, and Universal Music All
Offline http://bit.ly/xS7Rnx

Free Software Blocks Keyloggers by Encrypting Keystrokes http://bit.ly/xmZZ7y

Cops: Jailed man smuggled gun in rectum http://bit.ly/z626A9

Do Women Cheat As Much As Men Do? http://bit.ly/AlRlNB

Man wants a job with FBI, instead gets 80 months in jail for child pornography http://bit.ly/wHnSZd

Controversy – but no charges – for coroner, private investigator for soliciting 17 year old autistic boy http://bit.ly/xLbNIP

The ‘toys’ that let you spy on the neighbours – new ‘Wi-Spi’ helicopter and ‘Intruder’ car offer hi-tech surveillance http://bit.ly/zUPrfb

Hidden Camera Inside Houston Precinct 1 Sheds Light on Police Probe http://bit.ly/wkHIIt

Should You Be Able To Sue Your Spouse’s Lover? http://bit.ly/AuTJnb

Eight officers resign over illegal searches of dozens of people using police files http://bit.ly/yt33hq

65 Year Old Woman Gets on Plane With Handgun in Purse: Passengers Furious With TSA http://bit.ly/wcwjuj

Forensic Apps for First Responders http://bit.ly/zdHZQE

Process Server Serves Lawsuit on Lindsay Lohan for Helping Kill Osama Bin Laden http://bit.ly/yujVu7

Air bag DNA foils insurance scam http://bit.ly/xwecQR

‘Boot up the backside camp’: Training female bodyguards Chinese style http://bit.ly/A0JiQ3

Background checks encouraged for online dating http://bit.ly/A5BN2G

NSA constructs hardened Android with super-spook mobile OS, available to the world http://bit.ly/yRyVHn

JP Morgan Chase Process Server Unable to Serve OJ Simpson Foreclosure Papers http://bit.ly/x7mhjq

Pepsi Pays 3 Million: EEOC Finds Hiring Discrimination against African Americans with Background Check Policy http://bit.ly/A1xShi

Police, Private Investigator Unable to Locate Missing Saudi Chemical Engineering Student Studying in Canada http://bit.ly/zlNdlr

Sex, spies and Mounties: the poisoned culture of the RCMP’s `Special O’ surveillance squad http://bit.ly/xTvefn

Ashton Kutcher Foursquare hack witnessed by millions of Twitter users http://bit.ly/zvLN4O

Bail Bondman & ‘Beat Down Posse’ leader convicted of racketeering and more http://bit.ly/xkLh1S

Google Abandons Anonymous Accounts With New Signup Form http://bit.ly/wRTEbJ

A Hennepin County jury convicted ex-Hell’s Angel and former bail bondsman Joseph “Big Joe” Gustafson Sr. of racketeering and other felonies Friday, in an explosive hearing in which a family member screamed an expletive at the jury and Gustafson swore at the judge.

The verdict was announced Friday afternoon after a two-week trial and six hours of deliberation. As a clerk read the verdicts on multiple counts, Gustafson shook his head and turned to his family, where the men struggled to comfort gasping and sobbing women. A young woman stood up and screamed at the jury, calling them, in part, “delusional.” Judge Kerry Meyer ordered the woman from the courtroom.

Gustafson, 56, was indicted last summer on six felony counts, including attempted murder and arson, as the alleged leader of the “Beat Down Posse,” a brutal north Minneapolis gang that robbed, intimidated and assaulted drug dealers and others. Prosecutors alleged that he was the “CEO” of the gang, issuing orders while running the gang under the front of his business, Gustafson Bail Bonds. His son, Joseph Duane “Little Joe” Gustafson Jr., 37, is scheduled to stand trial on charges of racketeering and similar crimes in March.

Gustafson’s attorney, Barry Voss, said during trial that the witnesses who testified against his client, mostly former members of the gang, were only doing so in hopes of getting breaks in criminal cases of their own. Voss declined to comment after the verdicts Friday.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman called the verdicts a “huge win.”

Read more…

Odds are, posting bail for a loved one awaiting trial in your local county jail wasn’t on your Christmas list this year.

But owners and managers of local bail bond companies say business often peaks the week before Christmas. They’re generally busier then than New Year’s Eve, Labor Day or summer holidays when law enforcement typically conduct saturation patrols to pick up drunken drivers.

The statewide DUI blitz conducted over this past New Year’s Eve, for instance, resulted in 72 arrests, Utah Highway Patrol authorities said. A complete count will be released Tuesday, officials said.

Clint McQueen, co-owner of Liberty Bail Bonds, said DUI enforcement blitzes can lead to an uptick in business but it is often because the people arrested also have outstanding warrants or face other charges related to the drunken driving arrest.

“A DUI is only bondable for $1,500 so the jails don’t hold them very long,” McQueen said of first-time offenders. “There’s just not enough room in the jail for them.”

Read more…

A local bail bondsman has lost his license after state regulators looked into accusations of misappropriation of funds and other improprieties.

According to information from the state Public Regulation Commission, bail bond agent Bradley Bickel was the target of an enforcement action by the commission’s Division of Insurance.

Investigators received information about the allegations against Bickel in November 2011. Following an order to show cause issued by Insurance Division superintendent John Franchini, a formal hearing was held on Dec. 7, 2011, that resulted in Bickel’s license being revoked. Bickel did not attend that hearing.

“We will not tolerate unfair business practices by licensees, and will not allow consumers to be victims of unfair business practices,” Franchini stated in a news release.

For more information about insurance products and enforcement actions, residents can contact the department at (505) 827-4601.

View source…

A local bail bond company said it’s not just the jails that are having to adjust to realignment. Bail bond companies are having a hard time too.

Under California’s new realignment plan county jails now hold more of a burden housing inmates than state prisons. It’s forced counties to let people who used to sit behind bars to walk free, without having to post bail.

Holly Hoekstra, owner of Holly’s Bailbonds in Redding has owned the company for 12 years. She said business is down about 50% from 2006. The reduction has forced her to reduce her staff from five to three agents.

Hoekstra said it’s not just her company being hit. She said bail bond companies across the state are scrambling to figure out what to do. She said bail bonds are crucial to the criminal justice system and right now are being overlooked.

“What happened is they don’t realize how important what kind of role we’ve played. I’ve posted 600 to 700 bonds a year. Those are solutions that I’m taking care of, that I’m personally held financially responsible annually and I make sure my people go to court and if they don’t I either pay or I find them and bring them back,” said Hoekstra.

Read more…

A top member of the “Beat Down Posse” testified Tuesday that he committed crimes ranging from torching a north Minneapolis home to plotting to kill a “hanger-on” suspected of being a police informant, all for the benefit of the north Minneapolis gang.

Troy Neuberger, 40, indicted on multiple felony counts last year relating to his activities in the gang, told a Hennepin County jury that his motivation to confess to the crimes while testifying against alleged ringleader Joseph Robert “Big Joe” Gustafson was simple:

“I’m trying to get a deal,” he told defense attorney Barry Voss during cross-examination Tuesday. “I’m out on a limb.”

Neuberger, who could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted of counts that include racketeering, attempted murder and arson, said he has not been offered any sort of deal from Hennepin County prosecutors in exchange for his testimony against Gustafson, 56, a former Hell’s Angel. He’s hoping, he said, one will come after the fact.

Gustafson faces six charges

Gustafson has pleaded not guilty to six felony counts, including arson and attempted murder. Prosecutors allege he was the “CEO” of the gang, who issued orders while running the gang under the front of his business, Gustafson Bail Bonds. His son, Joseph Duane “Little Joe” Gustafson Jr., 37, will stand trial on charges of racketeering and similar crimes in March.

Read more…

“We’ve taken a big hit. We’re writing 7-10 bonds a week, down from 20-30 from before,” said Greg Sullivan, owner of ABC Bonding.

The bail bonds business is not immune to a weak economy.
Sullivan said although crime hasn’t slowed down, seems the ability to make bail has… and according to recent reports, it’s a trend happening nationwide.

“When this economic crash hit, nobody has an equity line anymore, people are just struggling to make their mortgage payments,” he said.

If you’re arrested and use a bail bonds company, you pay 10-percent of the bail… and they put up the rest.
But coming up with that 10-percent, Sullivan said, is a lot harder for many families than it used to be. In San Luis Obispo, he said many times it’s young adults that end up staying in jail.

“Mom and dad say look we’re upside down in our house, we have no equity line. People have lost their jobs. They say son, daughter, you’re just going to have to sit it out because we just don’t have the funds to post bail on you right now,” he said.

Read more…

Over the past few weeks, Fantasia’s personal life has been riddled with rumors of her wanting her man to get a job and help pay some bills as well as provide financial support for the couple’s newborn baby. Well, it looks as though Antwaun has been working…or at least trying. He has a new come up as a bail bondsman with his new company Free Yourself Bail Bonds, dedicated to helping people who get in some trouble with the law post bail. If the name sounds very familiar, it’s because it was inspired by Fantasia’s 2004 break out hit, ‘Free Yourself. The tag line for the service is even more catchy, ‘Call Antwuan Cook To Get You Off The Hook’

Antwaun has a profile on Manta, a website that let’s companies post business profiles and stats, that states:

As a bail bondsman, it’s my passion to make sure my clients get back to those who matter most, jobs, and all the things they love to do. We truly believe that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Nobody is perfect, everyone has ups and downs, if you find yourself in a jam, call us to set you free. We are discreet, professional, and prompt, you will be treated with respect and courtesy no matter what the charge is.

He also has a professional website, for those who may need his services, Free Yourself Bail Bonds.com

This comes on the heels of talk show host Wendy Williams blasting Fantasia earlier this week for getting herself in such a crazy situation with a man that’s still married. She told her audience, that she was about to have a heart to heart with Fantasia:

Read more…

A Santa Barbara judge denied a request feom a bail bond company to exonerate bonds for actor Randy Quaid and his wife Evi Quaid.

Judge Frank Ochoa, after considering the issue for nearly two months, ruled American Surety Company — the bond company that fronted the money for the Quaids’ freedom — is out the $1 million it put up on the Quaid’s behalf after it couldn’t produce the couple more than a year after posting the bail.

In September 2010, the Quaids were arrested in connection with illegally living on the property at 1355 East Mountain Drive, at a residence they used to own. The Quaids have claimed they still own the residence, and so made themselves at home. While at the house, according to authorities, they broke a mirror, switched the furniture around, and etched “RQ” in the mailbox. Charges of unauthorized entry of a dwelling, vandalism, and resisting or obstructing a police officer were filed against the couple.

American Surety Company filed $50,000 in bail bonds for each of them, and the Quaids were released from custody, with an order to appear in court the next month. They didn’t appear at that hearing, nor at three subsequent hearings they were supposed to attend. While the court ordered bench warrants for the Quaids’ arrest after their first absence, the DA’s office requested the court increase the bail to $500,000 each after news the Quaids had been arrested in Canada. The court granted the argument, and Surety filed bail bonds of $500,000 for both Randy and Evi.

Read more…

Two bail bondsmen will not be going to court to defend themselves against accusations that they inflicted battery on the adult daughter of a Wildomar City Councilwoman.

Charges of misdemeanor battery and trespassing will not be filed against Fausto Atilano or Bryan Stark, confirmed John Hall, senior public information spokesman for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

Atilano is the owner of Fausto’s Bail Bonds in Temecula.

On the evening of March 28, 2011, then-Wildomar Mayor Marsha Swanson was shaken up and her daughter Jamie Scranton was Tasered after the two bail bondsmen came looking for a young woman they said failed to comply with the terms of her bail bond agreement.

The men showed up at the home of Swanson’s elderly mother, in the 21200 block of Shoemaker Lane in Wildomar. Scranton and her family also lived at the residence, including Scranton’s then-27-year-old son who was an acquaintance of the young woman the bail bondsmen were seeking.

Read more…

Authorities say a bail bondswoman handcuffed a suspect to her stairs after jailers refused to accept the man.

Jean Marie Chartier is charged with the false imprisonment of Reynaldo Delarosa, a man facing his own unrelated charges for drug possession and DWI.

Court documents showed Chartier called Delarosa and arranged a meeting in Webb City. Authorities said Chartier took Delarosa to the Jasper County jail to revoke his bond. Jailers refused to admit Delarosa because Chartier did not have a judge’s order.

Prosecutors said Chartier took Delarosa to her home and handcuffed him to the banister of her staircase, intending to keep him there until she could see a judge the following morning.

Delarosa was confined in her home for at least 24 hours. Chartier released him after he arranged for two friends to co-sign a $7,500 bond.

Upon her own arrest, Chartier posted a $25,000 bond.

View source…

If Glendene Grant went looking for a celebrity to attract audience to her new show, she couldn’t have found one better than the Colorado bail bondsman she hosts on Tuesday.

Bondsman Bobby Brown appeared on more than 30 episodes of the A&E TV show Dog the Bounty Hunter before a falling out that led him to sue the network and producers for breaching an agreement. Grant interviews Brown Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. on her new streaming-audio blog show.

“I’ve had people say, ‘Why Bobby Brown?,’ ” Grant said Friday while vacuuming her home.

She has a host of reasons.

Six years have passed since Grant’s daughter, Jessica Foster, went missing under mysterious circumstances from her home in Las Vegas. At no point in that time has the Kamloops mom given up hope of finding Jessie alive.

Read more…