Well this was certainly a first for me. Yesterday, thanks to the help of sfredbook.com, I arrested an escort / burglar / fugitive in San Francisco. Oh, and by the way, the girl that exposed me to MRSA the other day is a regular ho on sfredbook too. I pity the fools that date these girls and bring home these disgusting diseases to their spouses and children. I wonder if these guys have ever really considered the fact that their paying for sex from a heroin addict with potentially deadly disease. Really? Also, girls, if you’re going to be stupid enough to commit a crime and even more stupid to jump bail, the least you could do is remove your ads from sfredbook, craigslist, erosguide, etc.
Yea, and I’m sitting here the day after, feeling sick. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the exposure but I was exposed to MRSA yesterday by a junkie I arrested in San Francisco. For those of us who don’t know what MRSA is, it is a Staph infection that is resistant to antibiotics and, in some cases, can be deadly. The fugitive didn’t bother to tell me until after I cuffed her. Silly me for expecting a Fugitive heroin addict to tell me prior to being arrested that she has a potentially deadly infection. Not to worry, I suppose, I’ve already been exposed to Tuberculosis, Hepatitis, Scabies (disgusting) and several other communicable diseases. This is just one more perk to being a Bounty Hunter I guess, or just something for my resume.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterial
infection that is highly resistant to some antibiotics. Staph skin
infections cause a red, swollen, and painful area on the skin … www.google.com/health
I get asked a lot about what it takes to be a Bounty Hunter. I get everything from the legal requirements, work experience and physical requirements. In California it’s pretty simple. You must be a least 18 years old and can’t have any felony convictions . You must also do the following:
Complete a 40-hour “power of arrest” course certified by the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST).
Complete a “power of arrest” course certified by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services.
Complete a 12 hour of education relating to the duties and responsibilities of a Bail Licensee certified by the Department of Insurance.
All of these requirements can be found here. Okay, so that’s the legal requirements which are fairly easy to complete since no testing is required. Now let’s list the physical and mental requirements. If you’re okay with the following then you should have no problem doing the job.
Can you sit in your car for 10, 12 or 18 hours staring at a house?
Are you okay with peeing in a big gulp cup in your car?
Are okay with eating 2 day old fast food?
Are you okay with being spit on, punched, kicked, screamed at, pepper sprayed or tasered?
Do you like to fight?
Are you comfortable touching homeless people or searching homeless encampments (which may include walking through human feces)?
Are you okay with someone pointing a loaded gun at you? This includes cops, criminals and parents or friends of criminals.
Are you okay with being awaken at 3 in the morning by annoying phone calls from informants, defendants or parents / friends of defendants?
If you said no to any of the above questions then this job is probably not for you. However, if you said yes to the above then you may want to seek mental help.
Well if you do and it’s for a non-violent, misdemeanor crime then December is your lucky month. Santa Clara County is running and amnesty program this month that will allow you to stay out of jail. I used the program last year to convince a few fugitives to themselves in. All you have to do is get down to the Sheriff’s office on Younger Ave in San Jose and they will take your finger prints and issue you a new court date. The process normally takes about an hour depending on how busy they are. Under normal circumstances, if your warrant is over $5,000.00, the Police will take you to jail and you will either have to post bond or wait and see a Judge. Under this program it does not matter how big your warrant is as long as it’s not for a felony or for any type of violent crime (assault, domestic violence, etc.)
Here is a link to the press release if you want more information.
We all know that most criminals are not the brightest people. In fact, most of them are really stupid and that’s why they commit crimes and why they get caught. So let’s all just agree that criminals are dumb, okay? Alright, now that we got that out of the way let me give you some proof. A couple of months back my partner and I were in Watsonville, CA. waiting for defendant to make himself visible. We were pretty sure of the address so all we had to do was wait. About an hour into our surveillance an older model pickup truck pulls up in front of the house. Inside the truck was the defendant and what appeared to be his father. The defendant climbs out of the truck and immediately jumps into a beat up old black Camaro and starts burning rubber in front of the house; just like any smart fugitive would do. Nice way to lay low idiot.
This article appeared in the Morgan Hill Times. This guy was on bail with us and was assigned to my partner. Unfortunately I wasn’t with him when he made the arrest. Good Job! Peter L. Mastroieni, 38, was arrested without incident at his residence on the 500 block of Lexington Court in Los Banos.
I’ve got a few posts I’m working on, in the mean time enjoy the following video from Jon Lajoie. Jon creates some of the funniest videos which can be found on youtube.com and funnyordie.com. You can also visit his site at www.jonlajoie.com or search for him on youtube.com.
I am trying out a new feature on my site that will display an interactive map of all my arrests. I only have a few on the map but it will grow each time I make an arrest. I would love feedback or just let me know if it is interesting enough to keep on the site. You can view the page here.
I haven’t posted lately because I’m going through a major life change that has me completely consumed with drama and chaos. It’s a change that I elected to make, a change that should have happened years ago. You know, you wake up one day and wonder, “what the hell am I doing?”. We all have moments in our lives where we wonder where we’re going or how we ended up were we are. Some of us are lucky to realize we’re headed in the wrong direction before it’s too late. I’ve realized that I didn’t want to lay on my death bed wishing I had done something different. I didn’t want to live out the rest of my life unhappy and alone.
There is a silver lining to this change, though. One that has saved me from completely falling apart or self destructing. I would love to go into more details about the changes in my life, but I can’t right now. So needless to say, I’ve completely lost my desire to post, I’m using all my energy just to stay focused on my job. Business is booming right now. I’m overwhelmed with cases and have a few really nasty ones. One of them is getting a lot of my attention right now and it involves a defendant who is accused of sexually assaulting children.
I am a firm beleiver that everyone is innocent until proven guilty but the police report on this case is disturbing and it’s hard for me not to judge this guy. If the statements from the victims and witnesses are true then this guy should spend the rest of his life in jail. I will provide more details later but for now I’m going to get back to my drama filled life.
I’m here sitting in our office talking with my partner and I started thinking about my very first arrest as a bounty hunter. Actually my first arrest ever. I remember it like it was yesterday. You know, like the first time you had sex or the first time you robbed a liquor store. A memorable day it was. It was in San Francisco, she was about the same age as me but quit a bit larger. No, not my sex partner, my first arrestee. Anyway, I was there with a more senior investigator and he was going to “show me the ropes”, you know, “teach me how it’s done”. I remember it being very hot, standing in front of San Francisco Hall of Justice on Bryant Street. We were waiting for this girl to show up across the street, next door to a public parking lot. I was anxious and a lot of thoughts were bouncing around in my head. Thoughts like, “Am I going to get hurt?” and “What happens if we get into a fight?”. For some strange reason I was wearing a sweat shirt and my body armor (bullet proof vest). I was really hot and the sun was beating down on my bald head. It was starting to hurt and I was sweating profusely.
