| For Immediate Release October 7th, 2005 |
Contact: | Mark Macaulay Media Relations Spokesperson (714) 347-8405 |
CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY AND ORANGE COUNTY BAIL BOND AGENT INDICTED ON ILLEGAL REFERRAL SCHEME CHARGES
SANTA ANA – An Irvine criminal defense attorney and two Orange County bail bond agents were indicted by the grand jury on Wednesday, October 5, 2005. Attorney Joseph Gerard Cavallo, 50, and bail bonds person Jorge Andres Castro, 28, of Aliso Viejo, were in court for the first time this morning. Castro has been indicted on five felony counts and Cavallo has been indicted on three felony counts for facts surrounding their involvement in an illegal bail bonds referral scheme. A bench warrant was issued as to Alejandro de Jesus Cruz, 32, (last known address of Redondo Beach).
The first three felony counts involve the crime of attorney capping and attorney recommendation by a bail bonds agent. Castro was also indicted with two additional counts of illegally soliciting bail clients in jail. If convicted of all charges, Cavallo faces a maximum of 3 years 8 months in state prison. Castro faces 5 years in state prison if convicted.
FACTS
As to Counts 1 to 3, here is how the scheme worked from 2003 and 2005. Defendant Castro kept a stack of defendant Cavallo’s business cards at Xtreme Bail Bond’s office. Castro would take his employees to meet Cavallo and instruct them that they were to refer Xtreme’s clients to defendant Cavallo. They had a sheet of “to dos” and referring clients to Cavallo was part of their written instructions. The employees were told that they would get a bonus for referring bail clients to Cavallo. They were told to tell bail clients that they would get a discount from Cavallo because they were referred for legal services by Xtreme.
Meanwhile, Castro would recommend that bail clients hire Cavallo. They would hand out Cavallo’s business cards to their bail clients. They told their bail clients that defendant Cavallo was a friend of Xtreme Bail Bonds, and would give them a reduced attorney retainer fee. They would then make appointments for the bail client to visit Cavallo. In some cases, they would drive their cars to defendant Cavallo’s law office after directing bail clients to follow them. They would quote Cavallo’s retainer price to bail clients. In one case, Castro told a bail client that if he hired defendant Cavallo as his criminal defense lawyer, he would not have to spend any time in jail and would probably just get probation. They instructed bail clients to tell defendant Cavallo that they were referred to Cavallo by Xtreme Bail Bond. Cavallo told bail clients that he was giving them a discount because they had used Xtreme Bail Bonds to get out of jail.
In August of 2004, defendant Cavallo transferred $50,000.00 to defendant Castro and claimed it was an interest free loan.
As to the crimes relating to counts 4 and 5 — Castro is accused of illegally using people in custody to solicit bail bond clients. Castro is accused of rewarding his inmate tank workers by arranging for three way calls for people in custody or putting nominal money in the jail accounts. Castro is also accused of illegally soliciting people in custody by looking up their names on public websites and contacting them in custody without being asked.