Unlicensed Bail Bondsman Doesn't Get 2nd Chance

Bail bonds are one of the most highly regulated industries. The manner in which new bonds are solicited are strictly spelled out in state laws and those laws are typically watched by the various Departments of Insurance. While most people realize a bail bonds agent or bail bondsman needs a license. What most don't know is that employees of a bail bonding agency are supposed to have strict limits about the interaction they have clients.

Unforutantely this caught Onil Martinez in hot water recently. The Fort Myers bail bond agent was convicted last week for allowing an unauthorized person to work in a bail bond office. Martinez, who oversaw 2nd Chance Bail Bonds, is out on bond until the sentencing hearing,


Although this isn't Martinez's only run in with the law. He was originally arrested in February 2010 and charged with one count each of extortion, grand theft and criminal mischief and two counts of allowing an unlicensed bond agent to act as a bond agent. Authorities alleged he didn’t return a $90,000 bond collateral and destroyed the woman’s property, but prosecutors declined to pursue charges other than on the count for which he was convicted last week.


The charge of allowing an unlicensed person to act as a bondsman is a a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for March 14.