Sometime you look back and say, "DAMN! That was a close one!"

In my line of business you don't really get a full background of your clients. If you ran a full background check on every call, you'd never bail anyone out of jail. Now, we run our prospective clients on the New Jersey Dept. of Corrections website, but that only shows people within the last year. Sometimes we run a Google search and sometimes you're out of the office and get a call and just have to hope for the best. Last month I bailed a guy out in the middle of the night on a Contempt of Court charge from 3 years prior. He failed to make his time payments as set up by the court. His grandmother was the one bailing him out and told me repeatedly that he's a nice boy and has never really gotten into trouble. After 3 hours of waiting for him to get released and doing his Defendant paperwork he told me that he just got out of State Prison where he'd been for the last 3 years. Thus, the missed time payments. Well, all clients have to check in once a week whether it be on the phone or in person. Due to his small bail, he only had to call in. Its not unusual for first timers to forget they have to call in. So my co-worker called him to remind him. His father answered the phone and said that his son was back in jail in Passaic County. Standard procedure when a client is in custody again is to call the jail and get the details of the bail and the charges. So I called over to the County Jail to verify the bail. He's being held on $1 million Cash Only bail on charges of: Murder, Attempted Murder, Possession of a weapon, Unlawful possession of a weapon, Possession of a weapon-person not allowed to have a weapon (need I go on?) Yup. He's a good boy. He's never really gotten into trouble. Thanks Grandma! Fast Forward: $5,000 bail for possession of drugs. No history in the past year on NJ Dept of Corrections. Google search? Aggravated assault on his wife, kidnapping his daughter which led to a manhunt and, oh yeah, he and his friend shot a cop. Luckily, the officer didn't die!! So....DAMN! That was a close one!