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YOUR news source for Friday, March 05, 2004 Hopkinsville, Kentucky
News Article
Bail bondsmen raid becomes kidnapping charge
By SCOTT BURNSIDE sburnside@kentuckynewera.com
HOPKINSVILLE --Their method of operation resembled the action that typically is seen on television shows about police.
The drama starts with the scene of investigators waiting in their car for the suspect to return home. As they wait, they show photographs of the suspect to people in the neighborhood.
That night, the investigators break into the house, just like on TV. But the problem in this drama was that these invaders were bail bondsmen, not police or proper Kentucky authorities.
According to a report from the Hopkinsville Police Department, three bail bondsmen broke through the back door of a house on Wildwood Drive on Feb. 21. Ensrud A. McLain, 22, of Tennessee, was taken away in restraints.
Bail bondsmen have no law enforcement authority in Kentucky. Under state statute, "no bail bondsman or his agent shall arrest, detain, imprison, or remove from the state, any person for having broken the terms of his bail."
"This is not an everyday occurrence for us," police Chief Butch Yeager said. "If they're going to come here and snatch somebody, they have got to have a warrant."
According to local police reports, McLain was able to call his friend via a cell phone sometime during the incident. It is unknown what happened to McLain.
However, an arrest warrant has been issued for Jeffery Wade Vogelsang of Cumberland Furnace, Tenn., according to Christian County Attorney Mike Foster.
Foster said the warrant against Vogelsang contains charges of kidnapping, a bondsman detaining a person without a warrant and second-degree burglary -- all felony offenses in Kentucky.
McLain's original charge remains unclear, but Foster did note that it was a misdemeanor offense in Tennessee.
"A similar bond up here would be only $1,000," said Foster.
"This is maybe the third or fourth time that a bail bondsman has done this in my time," Foster recalled. "The bondsman would come up here, find whoever they were looking for, coming out of a grocery store or some place, handcuff them and take them out of the area."
Foster said that based on information his office has received, two of the bondsmen involved in the recent incident abandoned McLain and Vogelsang at a Clarksville restaurant later that night.
The bad thing about this case, according to police Capt. Monte Strode, is the atmosphere this type of operation creates.
"It is a dangerous situation," he said. "These people were not Kentucky law officers. They can't identify themselves as police officers. They're kicking down the door and sneaking out of town."
Strode added that residents should use caution if a similar situation happens to them.
"They have every right to defend their home. In order to use deadly fire, then you have to be in fear of your life," he said.
Scott Burnside can be reached by telephone at 887-3226 or by e-mail at sburnside@kentuckynewera.com.
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YOUR news source for Friday, March 12, 2004 Hopkinsville, Kentucky
News Article
Police probe Trigg bail bond incident
By SCOTT BURNSIDE sburnside@kentuckynewera.com
CADIZ -- Kentucky State Police are seeking two representatives of a Tennessee bail bond company who allegedly broke into a home here last weekend to capture a man wanted on misdemeanor warrants.
State Police Information Officer Barry Meadows said his department received a call Sunday from a jail representative from Tennessee who was seeking information about Jeffery Harvey, who lives on the Wallonia Road in Trigg County.
"They (bail bondsmen) evidently broke into a home, broke in the back door by kicking down the door," said Meadows.
Meadows said the jail representative was wondering about a foot injury Harvey reported to officials.
The individuals, whom Meadows said were representing a company named EZ Bonding Company, allegedly took Harvey away in hancuffs, leaving behind three children under the age of 11 by themselves.
Meadows said his information indicated that Harvey was wanted on two misdemeanor warrants in Tennesse.
"We're talking about charges of either buglary first-degree or second-degree," said Meadows.
Meadows said two State Police investigators are inquiring into the matter and they have not had much help from the Tennessee company.
This comes on the heels of an incident last month in which a similar bail bond company raid hustled a Hopkinsville man over the Tennessee state line to face a misdemeanor charge.
Scott Burnside can be reached by telephone at 887-3226 or by e-mail at sburnside@kentuckynewera.com.
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