HOUSTON – Family member’s of victims impacted by violent criminals who were able to get out of jail on bond through an alleged bail bond fraud scheme spoke out Wednesday after local, state and federal authorities took dozens into custody in connection to the investigation.
37 people in Harris County were arrested Wednesday morning in a ‘massive operation’ after the two-year long investigation.
A total of 50 people are in custody in connection to the scheme. Three others, Tawana Jones, 44, of Houston; Pamela Yoder, 60, of Detroit, Michigan; and Amir Khan, 60, of Pakistan, are currently wanted.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has confirmed the alleged scheme involved AABLE Bonds, where the FBI executed a search warrant in June 2022.
In a news conference following the operation, Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers of Houston said they had an idea of what was going on with the operation Wednesday morning.
“There was a few of us that had an inkling what was going on, and our intuition was spot on. But there’s people and victims that have directly been impacted by what’s going on with the call out for people to be fraudulently released on bail,” Kahan said.
April Aguirre, crime victim advocate and the aunt of nine-year-old Arlene Alvarez, said the scheme was larger than what they could imagine.
“We didn’t know what we were dealing with, and we could have never imagined how large this is,” she said.
Aguirre said it should not be simple for violent criminals to get out of jail.
“If you commit a crime here in Harris County, if you harm our children, if you kill one of our family members, it shouldn’t be easy for you to get out of jail. You should face consequences that match your crime,” she said.
Mario Garza, President of the Professional Bondsmen of Harris County Association, said he was shocked to hear about the allegations
“I am myself a bondsman. And what I, what I have learned about these allegations is I can’t believe it,” he said.
Garza said oftentimes, he noticed those who could not get a bond through other bond companies made their way to AABLE Bonds.
“Very many bonding companies would turn them down and then they would find their way to that company,” he said.
He expressed anger and sadness for what the company did.
“I’m not against people making money, but why do you have to sell your soul? Why do you have to kill everything behind it?” he said.
The indictment alleges 11 individuals of the 53 are charged in Harris County with criminal offenses who obtained bonds based on falsified documents. Garza believes depending on how long the scheme was going on, there are probably more than 11 people who were able to get bonds through AABLE Bonds.
“It’s a matter of how many years it was going on, surely you’re going to have more than 11,” he said.
Kahan says this scheme is something that is causing them to look and see what can be done through legislation to ensure bonds are legitimate.
“The honor code amongst the bail bond industry, I think that day is pretty much over and done with. And, you know, the question is, how do we make sure that the bonds the offenders are getting out are legitimate? So I think that’s going to be forthcoming down the road,” he said.