Off The Hook
We are a group of private investigators, bounty hunters / fugitive recovery agents, and bail bondsmen that have been in this line of work for over twenty five years and have many stories to tell. We have traveled all over the country catching fugitives and bringing them back to have their day in court. With our years of experience we are trying to educate the public about bail and why it is a needed part of our judicial system.
Off The Hook
From Charlotte to Nashville: A Bondsman's Wild Pursuit
Finding fugitives isn't just about tracking—it's about adapting to whatever strange situations arise along the way. This becomes abundantly clear as veteran bondsman Jason Cunningham takes us on a wild journey through some of his most memorable recoveries during his 18-year career with US Bonding Company in Charlotte, North Carolina.
What happens when Google Maps doesn't warn you about flood season? Jason's Mississippi adventure unfolds as he arrives to find an entire community accessible only by boat, with houses perched on stilts and residents boating to cars parked on higher ground. The resourceful bondsman enlists a local boat owner (who turns out to be the neighbor of his target) to navigate the flooded peninsula. Through quick thinking and a clever ruse—"Our boat's stuck, do you have a rope?"—Jason successfully apprehends his fugitive before embarking on a covert boat ride back to dry land.
But that's not all. Follow the chaotic pursuit of Magdalena Waters and her two companions as they lead Jason on a three-state chase from Charlotte to Jacksonville to Nashville. The recovery takes an unexpected turn when a local Nashville bondsman poses as "Officer Ted Nugent" to locate their targets. This networking across state lines highlights a crucial aspect of successful bail recovery work—knowing when to call in allies who understand their territory.
Throughout the episode, Jason shares wisdom gained from nearly two decades in the field: the importance of territorial knowledge, the challenges of working with different types of defendants, and the unexpected skills required when things don't go as planned. Currently serving his sixth year on the NCBAA board of directors, Jason offers valuable insights into both the business and regulatory sides of the industry.
Whether you're fascinated by true crime stories or curious about the bail bond industry, these authentic accounts reveal the creativity, persistence, and adaptability required to bring fugitives to justice. Subscribe now and join us for more incredible stories from the world of bail recovery!
When people are released from jail, they have the responsibility to appear in court, but some of these people choose to go on the run.
Speaker 2:They go back home to mommy.
Speaker 1:And that is when these guys come into the picture. So sit back and listen to the Off the Hook podcast with Chad and Rob Very fine people on both sides. These are real stories, but the names have been changed.
Speaker 2:What's up everybody. Rob, here we're still, and Chad what's up? And we got Mr Jason Cunningham with us.
Speaker 3:Everybody hey everybody, hey, everybody. So, jason, tell us what part of the state are you from?
Speaker 4:Center part of the state Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte.
Speaker 2:So Jason has been a good friend of ours for many, many years now.
Speaker 4:Long time now, 15 years, something like that.
Speaker 2:Something like that. So you ended up. It's kind of funny. We compare me and Chad, kind of compare the way you and Jim are Right. You know, it's funny how like he's like the Jim and I'm like the Jason of the crew. But I don't want him to retire.
Speaker 3:We're going to do it together, we're just going to do it together.
Speaker 4:If y'all see the greatest come in, that's because Jim retired.
Speaker 2:Yes, if y'all see the greatest come in, that's because Jim retired.
Speaker 4:It puts a lot on you once a leader retires from you.
Speaker 2:I don't and I don't want that. I see that.
Speaker 4:I see that the stress level has gone crazy.
Speaker 2:Let me fix your mic. So we're still here at the NCBA convention, and this is the third one we did today. So Mr Cunningham here has a really good story here. Let's see, hang on, I'm going to do something. I'm asking him a question or something I'm going to bring something up, so name your businesses.
Speaker 3:US Bonding.
Speaker 4:US Bonding Company Charlotte, north Carolina. All right, and how long have you been writing bail? I've been writing bail now for about 18 years, all right.
Speaker 3:You up in it.
Speaker 2:So, here we go. I got to do it. We've done this before.
Speaker 4:I'm going to do it again. He can't hear it. He can't hear it, buddy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can't hear it.
Speaker 2:Breaking the law, baby, all right, we can't play too much of it. We get dinged for it All right now. So back to Mr Cunningham here. So how do you, man? I don't know how the hell you operate in Charlotte, because I hate going to Charlotte.
Speaker 4:That's what makes me successful. Everybody hates Charlotte, so as long as y'all stay out of Charlotte, man, we do good.
Speaker 2:Well, you know what we do call you a lot.
Speaker 4:It works that way. Everybody's scared to come to Charlotte. They don't want to deal with Charlotte. I've been around Charlotte my whole life. It works out good for me.
Speaker 2:Well, anytime we've had anything in Charlotte, we've always called you. You've helped us out. Vice versa. We appreciate it. We love networking with everybody.
Speaker 3:I love you guys. I always say you've got to know your neck of the woods to be good at this business. It helps a lot. That's why he's been good. That's why we call you. We need to come up your way.
Speaker 4:I'm going to tell y'all what it's good whenever y'all call us and ask about the area. We had some people from South Carolina come up yeah, Didn't know the area and they showed up looking like they got off a motocross Motocross chest protector Motocross chest protector. Kid had some kind of soccer braces on his arms. And I'm like dude. This is not down south in South Carolina, this is Charlotte.
Speaker 2:What did he think that it was going to do? It looked like he raided his kid's toy box.
Speaker 4:Raided his kid's toy box. Man.
Speaker 3:I need some body armor, Need something man.
Speaker 4:I mean they look like Mortal Kombat around back Shin guards, Shin guards on his arms.
Speaker 2:All right. So who's been your biggest influence in the bail bond industry?
Speaker 4:Oh man, I'm going to say my biggest influence is probably the man I learned from, Jim Camp.
Speaker 3:God, I thought you were going to say Doug DeMalle. No, no.
Speaker 4:No man, I'm staying in-house. The man that taught me you know, the one I've seen.
Speaker 2:Jim. I remember when he was still in it, yep, and you know the one I seen, jim. I remember when he was still in it, yep, and you know he helped us out. You know he's called us for something. Vice versa. You remember I don't know if you remember this, but you remember you called me on a girl that was in the Hampstead, holly Ridge area and you're like we've already paid, don't worry about it. I was. I was like no, we go ahead and do it so we can get a remittance and don't worry about it. We didn't. I said don't, we'll do it for you, don't worry about it. So we went and got her right. I passed that place all the time.
Speaker 2:It's right down the road from the house really I always think about you every time I drive by. So it's, it's, it's. It's kind of gnarly how how worlds collide, but we're so four, four and a half hours apart.
Speaker 4:Well, you know what I learned from that.
Speaker 3:Don't write bonds on girls, well, well, don't write bonds on girls, that's 50% of your clientele.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, they're the trouble. They will beat the hell out of you faster than the mail will.
Speaker 4:Yes man, they will beat the hell out of you Faster than the mail will do. Yes man, we have picked up so many girls and as soon as you touch them, they start hollering and yelling. It's just not worth it.
Speaker 2:I agree, alright. So we got you on here finally, after months of trying to get you To do a podcast with us. We want to hear Some of your One of your best stories, and you mentioned to us something about Mississippi.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I got one about Mississippi, but since you reminded me of the girl, I got a better one for y'all. Okay, I got a good one for you. So we had a female, Magdalena Waters in Charlotte. Bailed her out many times. Just an old, drunk woman Went to jail. Many in Charlotte Bailed her out many times. Just an old, drunk woman Went to jail many, many times. Bailed her out. She wouldn't show up, she'd go to jail. We'd bail her out again. Well, magdalena was married to a man Can't think of his name, I think it was Mike and Mike and Magdalena just happened to walk around Charlotte, come across another guy named Ricky. Ricky was a homeless guy in Charlotte and they all become a threesome.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 4:So, like lovers, lovers, yeah, I asked her. I said well, magdalena, how do you pick between the two men, which one are you with? She said well, you know, sometimes Ricky feeds the dog, sometimes the other one feeds the dog. I said hey, hey, if that's the way y'all, if that's the way you work it out, man, so be it. So they got missing. We had to go look for them. Um, got word, they had went to Jacksonville, florida.
Speaker 2:Oh, we've been there. Yeah, okay, it's a hole, it's a hole.
Speaker 4:They love to run to Florida, don't they? They do, man. They were going to the Sunshine State, so we decided to jump out of the car drive from Charlotte to Jacksonville. Get to Jacksonville. We're riding around, we're looking for them. Go check the motel we're supposed to be at. Oh yeah, we remember them. That threesome was out here sleeping on the park bench, stayed here Just recently, moved out. Well, you're close.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, how close Like a week.
Speaker 4:Oh, how close to it, did they?
Speaker 3:move out.
Speaker 4:Yeah, as we searched around and looked, they had just got on a Greyhound bus that day. Oh so luckily somebody said hey, the Greyhound. I think somebody bought him a ticket to go to Nashville, tennessee.
Speaker 4:Oh my God, no so we're in Jacksonville, Florida, Found out they just got on a bus to Nashville, Tennessee. We turn around and start driving towards Nashville. We got an informant talking to us. The informant says hey, Ricky, the third wheel, the boyfriend, just got arrested being public drunk. Ooh, Okay. I said okay, hey, that works out good. Yeah, so me and Chad Lewis, the other bondsman, we're headed from Jacksonville to Nashville. How you doing? Get back on the phone, call Jim. I said. Jim. I said one of our parties is in jail in Nashville.
Speaker 4:See if you can find us a local bondsman out there, Smart. So he goes up to the jail. Where he gets on the phone he finds a bondsman. I think his name was Mr Parker, Big old dude, 6'5" black man, cornrows. He says, yeah, I'll help y'all out. So what we wanted him to do was go to the jail, wait on Ricky. Ricky's supposed to get out of jail here in a few hours. He's publicly drunk, Got off the bus, getting up there. He's going to get out of jail. Time served. We figured Magdalena the girlfriend is outside hanging out waiting on him to get out. Makes sense. So we're driving up there to get to Nashville, that's a long ride from Jacksonville.
Speaker 4:That's a long ride from Charlotte to Jacksonville to Nashville, so we get up there. Ricky hadn't came out of jail yet. We're sitting there waiting. Magdalena hadn't showed up, so we waited a few more hours. I think his time come up at like 12 pm, but it's sort of like Mecklenburg County it takes you eight hours to get released from the time.
Speaker 4:Time's up. So we get there and I talk to Mr Parker, the bondsman. Again, he's a big man, 6'5", 200-something pounds cornrows. I said, sir, I've got Magdalena's phone number. I said, but you've got a local Nashville phone number. If I gave you her phone number, you think you could call her and just kind of see if she's in the area. He's like, yeah, that's a great idea. So the man calls Magdalena up. She answers the phone. He says ma'am, this is Officer Ted Nugent with the Nashville.
Speaker 1:Police.
Speaker 4:Department.
Speaker 3:So she didn't know who Ted Nugent was. She didn't know who Ted Nugent was.
Speaker 4:Okay, okay, so how he come up who Ted Nugent was. She didn't know who Ted Nugent was Okay.
Speaker 3:So how he come up with Ted Nugent over everybody I mean dude it blew my mind Funny and risky too, and risky yeah.
Speaker 4:So Magdalena says Officer Nugent, are you going to come pick up Ricky? She said no, I don't have a ride. Well, ma'am, it just so happens I'm about to get off of work and if it happens to be in my area I might can drop him off to you. Mike Villina says well, hold on a minute. He has the phone and somebody with our address is such and such here in Nashville.
Speaker 3:Boom.
Speaker 4:Well, you know what, it just so happens. I am going just that way here in just about an hour.
Speaker 3:I'll bring him to you. It just so happens.
Speaker 4:Yeah, how about that. Do you?
Speaker 3:love it when things just line up perfectly like that, I mean where were you at?
Speaker 2:You were already in Nashville.
Speaker 4:We were at the jail. We were standing there waiting on Ricky to come out. Okay, so we left the jail. Mr Parker had one other agent with him. We left him at the jail to wait on Ricky to come out Myself, chad, the other bondsman, and Mr Parker, the bondsman, local to Nashville. We get in the car and we ride over to the address they give us. As we pull up to the road, her friends are out there waving us down.
Speaker 4:Ricky, ricky, we're here, pulled on the side of the road. We jumped out the car, run up to the house on the porch. Magdalena's sitting there drinking a 40. Eyes got big as silver dollars. Man, as we showed up up there, grabbed her, put her in cuffs, took her back to the jail. As soon as we got to the jail, about 30 minutes later, here come Ricky running out the door. I'm free. Well, for the moment, for the moment, for the moment Right For the moment. We got Ricky. Both of them were wanted. So we grabbed Ricky, grabbed Magdalena, put them back in the car drove them back to Charlotte.
Speaker 3:What happened to the third?
Speaker 4:guy man. It's unfortunate about him. We didn't bother with him until we got back to Charlotte and then found out another bonding company was looking for him.
Speaker 2:Oh, really, yeah, how much was that bond?
Speaker 4:I think their bond was pretty small, but ours was about $30,000.
Speaker 2:on Magdalena that's enough to make you cringe at night.
Speaker 4:It is Nothing like two homeless people trying to make out in the third row of the backseat of your car.
Speaker 2:Speaking of homeless, we did a podcast not too long ago maybe a month, month and a half ago of a guy that arrested literally four miles that-a-way east of us, where we're at right now oh, really, Beside the Target and Homeless.
Speaker 4:Camp Okay.
Speaker 2:They're the worst.
Speaker 4:The Homeless. Oh my God man, they're everywhere now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so awesome. Now we still got some time so you can tell me about Mississippi.
Speaker 4:Okay, so y'all want to hear about Losedale Mississippi.
Speaker 2:Let's see what Leroy got here.
Speaker 4:So we had a guy run out from Charlotte, or actually Concord, north Carolina, found out he was down in Losedale, mississippi. So we jumped in the car. I think it was 12 hours from Charlotte to Losedale, get to Losedale, get to Losedale. We figure we check in on our Sunday night. Maybe he'll be getting into bed, settling, going to work the next day. Monday morning.
Speaker 4:We get about a mile from the house and we start seeing water on the side of the road. Look over on both sides of the road, like man, it must have rained down here. Get a little bit further. Water was across the road and it's about 11. We planned to hit the house about midnight, so it's about 11.50 at night. Get down just a little bit more. There's water covering the road and it's a peninsula. One way in, one way out.
Speaker 4:So we get down there, realize we can't go no further. So we decide to sit. Sit there a few minutes and by the time the interior light of the car went off. It was so pitch black out that you couldn't see your hand in front of you and I said, man, this ain't the place we're sitting. So we turned around, come back and looked on the high ground. It was full of cars and we didn't know why. So we left there, went back to the nearest convenience store, showed them a picture of who we were looking for, said hey, y'all seen Leroy? Yeah, man, we know Leroy. He actually stays in the homeless camp back behind the IGA. We said well, we got an address for him down the road here. He said listen, this is the flood season down here. Everybody's parked on high ground and they boat in and out to their cars. They said he's not going to be down there because it's the flood season.
Speaker 3:Who would have known, this being where we were from?
Speaker 2:So this is another example of knowing your area.
Speaker 3:Like adapt and overcome kind of situation.
Speaker 4:I looked at a house on Google Maps and I just thought it was near a river. I didn't realize it was going to be the flood season, right. So we leave there, turn around, we go to the IGA, we find the homeless camp and their homeless camp has definitely been there for many years. Fireworks stand. There's a guy with a tent back in the woods out behind there. Start talking to him. Guy had been in his tent for 10 years. He had a pile of beer cans that had been there for 10 years. Every beer he drank in 10 years was there. I mean, it's a seven-foot-tall pile of cans. So we go through the woods and we're out there at midnight. We're searching tents, we're looking for them. Nothing there, nobody's seen the guy Didn't know anything about it. I said, hey, look man, I can't do no more. Tonight. We got us a motel room. We got a motel room, Stayed the night, got up the next day, went back through the homeless camp, took pictures of because I was like nobody's going to believe this crap.
Speaker 4:Left there went back down the river found all the cars, seen the cars and everybody had little john boats tied up to trees and whatnot Hung out there long enough. A guy comes up. I said listen, I need to get this guy. He said I know that guy. I said all right. I said, well, can you help me out? Did you offer him any money? Well, I did offer him some money. He said I can take you down there. I said well, I got $100 for you. He said that's fine with me, I'll take $100.
Speaker 4:What the guy didn't want to know was it was his neighbor. So neighbor ratted him out. He said look, I will take you by boat, but I need to take this other guy over here to his house. I was like, all right, no problem. So the guy went to his truck. He said I got to get my pistol because last time I went to my house there was a water moccasin in there. Man, that guy went to the truck, he pulled out a pistol with a barrel about 18 inches long. I thought, oh my God, man, we are unarmed for this right here.
Speaker 4:So the guy takes him down the road to his house. We wait on him to come back and I said, look, we're going to kind of do this a little bit of covert. You drop me off. You know 50, 100 yards from the house. We're going to go through the woods. Try to sneak up on me. He says all right.
Speaker 4:So we're going down the river and it's about a two-mile ride down the river in the guy's boat to get to the house. All the houses are on stills, they're all jacked up in the air for the flooding issues. Go down the river and you could see the house from a distance. So I asked the guy. I said if you drop us off in the woods, how long is it going to take you to come back? And he says it's taking me, you know, 20, 30 minutes. I said well, if we see the guy out there, can you wait on me? He said yeah. So we're far enough from the house. We're going down the river. See a guy sitting in a chair under the house.
Speaker 4:So what's everybody doing on the river? You wave at each other. I threw my hand up where I'm playing clothes. I threw my hand up where I'm playing closed. It threw my hand up and waved. He waved back, hollered over. I said hey, you got a chain. He said what I said you got a rope. Our boat's stuck. We need a rope. Yeah, come on over. This is your target.
Speaker 4:Right, this is our target, yeah. So where the house sat, there was a boathouse in front of it blocking it. Run around the boathouse, the guy reaches over to grab a rope and when he did, we grabbed him, handcuffed him up, took a shirt and blindfolded him with a shirt, carried him out there to the boat, had to blindfold him because it's his neighbor driving the boat. Oh wow, yeah, everybody's quiet. Yeah, everybody's quiet, not speaking. We put him on the boat on the very front of the boat, quiet. Yeah, everybody's quiet, not speaking. We put him on the boat on the very front of the boat, got him blindfolded with a shirt, handcuffed. Take him two miles back up the river, get back to our car so we can drive him 14 hours back to Charlotte.
Speaker 2:North.
Speaker 4:Carolina.
Speaker 2:I tell you what you like to drive. I don't. I fly in a heartbeat, but man that's Mississippi right Mississippi. Losed.
Speaker 4:Mississippi Mississippi.
Speaker 2:That's a whole nother world down there yeah.
Speaker 4:Dude, I'm telling you what in my bell bond bag. I never knew I needed a boat.
Speaker 2:You know what I?
Speaker 4:actually.
Speaker 2:I actually got somebody on a boat one time, really. Yes, uh, he was. I would come up to a boat dock and he was actually just swimming and I was like, and he started swimming away. I'm like, what are you doing, dude? So there was a guy like about to take his boat out of the water. I said, hey, you mind driving me, I need to get that guy. He was like sure. So I'm like commandeering his boat. We get out there, he jumps on a pontoon boat and how do we know who you are? I'm like, look at me, dude, shut the hell up and don't move that boat. So I get up and we get them and bring them back. But yeah, a boat. I never thought in a million years that I would ever get on one.
Speaker 4:I'm saying we got to do a little more than just looking at Google Maps.
Speaker 3:We're going in a call and find out find out like what's the weather conditions, so I wonder if I can write off a boat.
Speaker 2:That's a business experience that's a good idea, my accountant can work that in there right, right so. So, jason, all right. So let me ask you so you're on the board of directors for the ncbaa I am, and how long you've been doing that?
Speaker 4:this is my sixth year on the board of directors. How you like it, I like it um stressful. We're trying to put a lot of information out to help other bondsmen throughout the state. It'd be nice to get a lot more support from some uh bondsmen throughout the state, right?
Speaker 2:well, hopefully, well, hopefully. You know people that watch our podcast or listen to it can reach out to you. So if US bonding out of Charlotte talk to Jason Cunningham. If you want to help support him, give him a holler. You know he'd be more than glad to do.
Speaker 4:It Sounds good, call me if y'all need something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, jason, appreciate you coming on, man, that was awesome.
Speaker 3:Thanks, dude, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Thank you Well, guys. That's another episode wrapping up Chad anything you want to say?
Speaker 3:No, man, this thing looks like it's wrapping up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been a long day already. It's been a long day, yeah, and so thanks for everybody for listening to us. The NCBA conference here has been awesome. We're going to keep it going and we'll talk to you again. I'm Rob. I'm Chad.
Speaker 1:Hey, this is Jason.
Speaker 2:We'll talk to you later, guys. See you later.
Speaker 1:Peace. You've been listening to Off the Hook with Chad and Rob. We hope you've enjoyed the show. Make sure to like, rate and review, and be sure to follow us for notifications for another exciting episode. But in the meantime you can go to our website at wwwoffthehookbillcom to see more. So until next time, stay out of trouble, or it'll be you that needs to get off the hook. See you soon.
