Unfortunately, not all bail bondsmen are good guys. Not every bail bonds company is run on the “up and up”. And in some cases, albeit rare, some even break the law. This is true of a bondsman recently in Kentucky.
A former Mississippi bail bondsman was sentenced to more than ten years in federal prison recently in the United States District Court in Greenville, Mississippi, for knowingly selling firearms to a convicted felon.
The bondsman, Joe Crawford, 68, of Boyle, Mississippi, was convicted in June by a jury for knowingly selling multiple firearms to a convicted felon on two separate occasions. At least one of the firearms sold was stolen. Chief District Court Judge Debra M. Brown sentenced Crawford to 121 months in prison for selling the firearms to a convicted felon.
According to court documents and testimony, law enforcement began investigating in 2018. FBI and ATF began working with local investigators to identify the individuals responsible for shootings in the area and to identify individuals supplying the shooters with the guns. During the investigation, agents identified Joe Crawford as an individual who supplied firearms to felons.
During the investigation, a confidential informant purchased a total of ten firearms from Crawford on two occasions in transactions that were recorded on video and audio. On each of the two occasions that the CI purchased guns from Crawford, the CI repeatedly told Crawford that he was a convicted felon. Among the firearms sold by Crawford were multiple semi-automatic rifles that included 20 and 30 round magazines, a “bump stock” which is a device that can be attached to a firearm to cause it to fire in rapid succession, and several pistols.
After the undercover buys, agents executed a federal search warrant at Crawford’s home. During the search, 379 firearms were found and examined, and approximately fifty firearms were seized. Two of the firearms were stolen, and another two firearms had obliterated serial numbers.
At the time of the illegal gun sales, Crawford owned and operated a bail bonding company in Bolivar County, Mississippi. Evidence presented at trial established that Crawford often met his future firearm customers through the bail bondsman business.
The FBI Jackson Field Office’s Oxford Resident Agency investigated the case with assistance from the Cleveland Police Department and ATF. The investigation resulted in the prosecution and conviction of 18 defendants.
If you need a local bail bond company in Connecticut that doesn’t sell guns to felons and upholds the law that is going to answer their phone, represent you, get you out of jail, and walk you through the whole way in this stressful situation, then you want to contact Atomic Bail Bonds right now. There is no reason to wait any longer. You want to get out of jail. You need to get out of jail. There is a company that is on your side and ready to get you released ASAP.
