Two bail bond agents are facing multiple felony charges that they used inmates to drum up business inside the Orange County County Jail. James Everett Morris and Kenneth Lance Hendrick, both 49, have been charged by the Orange County District Attorney's Office with a total of 14 felony counts. Both allegedly orchestrated arrangements with jail inmates, who notified the defendants when they had been arrested. Both men worked for James Morris Bail Bonds.
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The lion's share of the charges are being leveled at Hendrick, who lives in Mission Viejo. He faces 11 years and eight months in state prison for allegedly making an agreement with 11 inmates between March 4 and Dec. 6, 2010 to notify him when they needed bail. The DA's office says one of the inmates solicited the others on Hendrick's behalf. He was arrested on March 9 of this year and as if things weren't bad enough for him, authorities say Hendrick had meth in his sock while being taken into custody–officials “tweaked” the charges accordingly.
Meanwhile, Santa Ana resident Morris faces a maximum sentence of five years in the hoosegow for his alleged crimes, which include paying commissions to an inmate's financial book in exchange for information pertaining to the bails of five other inmates.
While incarceration is never a walk in the park, it seems this duo made some valuable contacts in the joint. If convicted, this could mean an easier, softer jailhouse experience. Of course, there's no word on how many bounties their agency tallied prior to the arrests.
