Bail Reform Group Bailed Out Repeat Offender With Recent Elder And Child Sex Abuse Cases

 



A suspect bailed out of the Bexar County Jail despite two recent charges of child sex abuse and elder abuse. It’s the latest case uncovered by News 4 Trouble Shooter Jaie Avila’s investigation into bail reform.

Bexar County has now started posting information on suspects bailed out by Texas Organizing Project, or TOP, the bail reform group Jaie reported on in his first story.

We found what may be the worst case yet of a repeat offender whose bond was reduced so TOP could bail him out.

Texas Organizing Project has bonded out hundreds of inmates from the county jail. The group says these are low level offenders who are poor and shouldn't have to sit in jail awaiting trial because they pose no real threat.

“I would have to say that everyone's entitled to bail," said Laquita Garcia of Texas Organizing Project.

In April of 2020, TOP bonded out Paul Mena who had been arrested on a drug charge.

However, court records show at the time Mena also had an elder abuse charge against him, and a continuous sex abuse of a child case that had just been dismissed two months earlier.

Despite those red flags, a magistrate judge lowered Mena's bond from $2,500 to $500. After TOP bailed him out Mena failed to show up in court and was a fugitive.

Months later the continuous sex abuse of a child case was reopened against him.

Thursday Avila spoke with the judge who lowered Mena's bond, Walden Shelton. When asked about Mena's prior cases Shelton would only say, "I would have had no knowledge of that."

District Attorney Joe Gonzales sent a statement: “Generally speaking, it is our practice not to agree to a bond reduction if there is an issue of public safety, but it is our practice to inform the judge of any relevant information. However, it is ultimately up to a judge to determine what bond is appropriate for a particular case.”

As we reported in our first story, Bexar County has been supplying TOP with a weekly list of inmates to bail out. TOP has performed thousands of dollars’ worth of campaign work for both Sheriff Javier Salazar and District Attorney Gonzales, both of whom support the bail reform efforts.

To see more CLICK HERE.

Video-


Comments

Post a Comment

Most Read Posts Over The Last 30 Days

The Bail Post Episode No. 54: The Causes of Crime and How to Deter It With Guest Dr. Jennifer Wooldridge

Image
On this episode of The Bail Post we talk about the current theories regarding the causes of crime and how to deter it.  Our guest is Dr. Jennifer Wooldridge.  She is an associate professor of Criminal Justice and the Criminal Justice Undergraduate Coordinator at UT Tyler.   Audio Podcast- Also available on: Apple Podcasts-            CLICK HERE Spotify-                        CLICK HERE Google Podcasts-        CLICK HERE Podcast Index-            CLICK HERE Amazon Music-          CLICK HERE Stitcher-                      CLICK HERE iHeart-                        CLICK HERE TuneIn + Alexa          CLICK HERE Podcast Addict-          CLICK HERE Podchaser-                  CLICK HERE Pocket Casts-              CLICK HERE Deezer-                       CLICK HERE   Listen Notes-             CLICK HERE Audible-                     CLICK HERE PlayerFM-                 CLICK HERE Video version of Podcast- Subject Index to The Bail Post Podcast-   CLICK HERE   To find more information regarding
Read more

Good People, Good Food, Good Conversation and Good Competition- PBT's Upcoming 2024 Spring Fling

Image
Wednesday: April 10 - 12 is the PBT 8th Annual Spring Fling.  Festivities will begin on Wednesday with the Annual PBT Golf tournament.  Additionally, as teams are playing golf, another PBT team will be preparing a feast for Wednesday evening.  Late Wednesday afternoon PBT will celebrate the victors of the golf tournament with its annual cook out dinner.  This is a great time to mingle with other bondsmen, our lobbyists and our surety partners as we have fun celebrating all things Texas. Additionally, PBT invites local law enforcement members to join in the fun. This year, Wednesday evening will see a new element to the celebration.  PBT is sponsoring its first ever steak cook off  competition.  PBT currently has thirteen entries who are willing to put their reputations on the line to find out who can cook the best steak as selected by our blue ribbon panel of judges.  The cooks will be performing under the harsh lights (and harsh jokes) of all the spectators supporting and heckling the
Read more

Manipulating Crime Numbers, Houston Edition- Investigation of 264,000 Cases Suspended for a "Lack of Personnel"

Image
  Houston Police Chief Troy Finner has released some new information regarding criminal cases that were suspended.  Last week, Finner identified 4,017 cases of alleged sexual assault administratively suspended for "lack of personnel" - investigations essentially kicked to the curb back to 2016. "Am I proud about this? No, I'm angry, okay, because I know we are better, and we are going to make it right, and we will make it right. We are still short of staff and some people say 2,000 officers, so we do the best that we can do, but that's not good enough when we are not investigating sexual assaults," said Finner. On Monday afternoon, Houston police released a new statement saying, "Our review of adult sex crime cases suspended with a code of "lack of personnel" has expanded to include all other divisions in the department found to be using that same code. We have determined that department-wide approximately 264,000 such incident reports since 2
Read more

New Members 4/1/2024

Image
  Marcus Dudley Jr. Tuscola, Texas Catheryn Johnson E-Z Out Bail Bonds Granbury, Texas  Debbie Crocker EZ Bail Bonds Harker Heights, Texas  Lisa Degeyter Lisas 007 Bail Bonds Lampasas, Texas   Michael Edwards Smoking Gun Bail Bonds Belton, Texas  John Curry Haltom City, Texas  Edward Dees III Fast Action Bonding Dallas. Texas  Cherie Lincoln Vaughn's Cowtown Bail Bonds Cleburne, Texas  Michelle Turner Fort Bend County  Richmond, Texas  Vanessa Lopez Fort Bend County Richmond, Texas  Sara Rosas Fort Bend County Richmond, Texas  Chase Konnecke Freedom Bail Bonds Amarillo, Texas  Sherian Coleman North Texas Bailbonds Sherman, Texas  Charles R. Cantu Jr. Skipper Bail Bonding Service Sinton, Texas  Anthony Benitez Houston, Texas  Michael Singletary Austin, Texas  Sharon McCleveland Set'em Free Bail Bonds Houston, Texas  Sandra Stephenson Bulldog Bail Bonds Jefferson, Texas  Jane Day All Day Bail Bonds Beaumont, Texas  Willie Will
Read more

Studies Demonstrate Recidivism Rates Increase Using Simple Release

Image
DCJ Study A new study of bail reform outside New York City — suburbs and upstate — prepared by John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Data Collaborative for Justice shows that 66% of the people released under bail reform who had a recent prior arrest were re-arrested within two years of their release. The DCJ study also showed that 67% of defendants who had a recent prior violent felony arrest in the past year who were released under bail reform were re-arrested within two years of their arraignment. Almost half — 49% — were rearrested for a felony.  The fact that a study shows that people who have committed crimes tend to continue to commit more crimes is not really surprising. My analysis of bail reform published by the Manhattan Institute in August of 2022 showed NYC re-arrest rates of close to 70% for people with prior records charged with larceny, burglary, robbery, and criminal contempt while their case was pending. But DCJ is no conservative think tank. On the contrary, they hav
Read more

Stories by Topic:

Show more