Checkout Time Bail Bonds

By RYAN MILLS (Contact)
Originally published 1:45 p.m., Thursday, May 14, 2009
Updated 7:08 p.m., Thursday, May 14, 2009

An embattled Collier County bail bonds company accused of illegally soliciting business behind bars is in more hot water after authorities arrested another employee Wednesday when they learned she is a convicted felon.

It is against the law in Florida for a convicted felon to be employed with a bail bond company in any capacity.

Arrie Denise Robinson, 46, 805 Breezewood Drive, Immokalee, is employed by Express Bail Bonds in Immokalee as a secretary, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Karie Partington said. However, her arrest report lists her occupation as “bail bondsman” even though she is not a licensed agent.

Robinson was arrested Wednesday afternoon at work, and charged with one count of allowing a convicted felon to be a bail bond agent, which is a felony.

Several Express employees have been arrested over the last two years, including owner Joe Houston, 36, and Juanita Williams, 52, who manages the Immokalee location. They were both charged in December 2007 with soliciting business inside the county jail, and are free on bond awaiting trial.

Their bond licences have been suspended.

On Tuesday, investigators initiated contact with ex-Express employee Frank Gonzalez for follow-up questioning about Houston and Express Bail Bonds, the Sheriff’s Office reported. Gonzalez, who worked with Houston between 1998 and 2003, now owns Golden Gate Bail Bonds and Frank Gonzalez Bail Bonds.

He alerted authorities to Robinson, who was arrested in 1985 for welfare fraud and convicted a year later, reports said. She was also found guilty of violating her probation in 1990, reports said.

“They contacted me. I never contacted them,” Gonzalez said Thursday. “... I’m not a revengeful person. I try to be a forgiving person. But like I said, at this point here I was contacted by the investigators that are handling Mr. Houston’s case.”

On Wednesday afternoon, while posing as a potential customer, a Sheriff’s Office investigator called Express Bail Bonds and spoke to a woman who identified herself as “Arrie.” He then sent a road patrol deputy to the business to verify it was Robinson he was talking to, and to arrest her.

Authorities checked several inmate phone calls to Express Bail Bonds in Immokalee over the past month, and identified Robinson as the employee answering the phone and processing bonds.

“The bail bonds agency is basically representing the court. They’re in charge of felons,” said Ray Wenger, who administers bail bonds for the Florida Department of Financial Services. “You don’t want felons taking care of felons.”

Employees who answered the phone at the Express Bail Bonds in Immokalee and in Naples on Thursday afternoon both declined comment on Robinson’s arrest. In the past, Houston and Williams have claimed to be victims of racial discrimination, saying the Sheriff’s Office targets their businesses because they are black and successful.

In January, the Collier County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced it was launching an investigation into the Sheriff’s Office for racial discrimination against Houston and Williams, though it released no evidence supporting its allegations.

Partington said the Sheriff’s Office treats all bail bond companies equally.