Gwinnett County sheriff settles complaint with bonding company after revoking authority
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Gwinnett County Sheriff Kebo Taylor has settled a complaint with a bonding company that accused him of proposing a quid pro quo for campaign donations.
In a release provided to FOX 5 Atlanta, Anytime Bail Bonding of Gwinnett, Inc. will be allowed to sell bail bonds in Gwinnett County, but will be doing business as ABC Bail Bonds. Its CEO, Scott Hall, is withdrawing from all corporate officer positions, the document says. Director of operations Paul Stewart shall have no formal capacity with the company.
Christopher J. Bohrer will assume legal control and operation authority of ABC Bail Bonds.
Taylor is reissuing a certificate of authority to the agency in his jurisdiction after he apparently mistakenly revoked the certificate of authority of the incorrect company. The documents says that Taylor will rescind a previous suspension of the Certificate of Authority to Anytime Bail Bonding, Inc., in recognition that the suspension and revocation should have been for Anytime Bail Bonding of Gwinnett, Inc.
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In a letter signed by Taylor, the sheriff admitted to issuing the suspension and revocations to the incorrect company. He issued a new certificate to ABC Bail Bonds.
The FOX 5 I-Team reported on a video that surfaced in May of then-candidate Taylor stating to Anytime Bonding manager Joanna Petropoulos, "If folks don’t support me, I’m not going to let them bond here. I mean, I’m just not going to do it."
The legal documents provided to FOX 5 Atlanta state Petropoulos and all staff at the bonding company may be retained as employees.
Taylor said Anytime bonding was one of several stops he made that day, and he was not intimidating bonding companies for campaign donations.
"I could see what would be problematic if I was in there asking them, hey, give me money or I don’t let you write bonds here," Taylor told the FOX 5 I-Team.
In a hearing, Former Gwinnett County sheriff Butch Conway testified his successor repeated to him what he said earlier on a secret recording: newly-elected sheriff Keybo Taylor vowed to shut down bonding companies that didn’t show him support.
Taylor told the FOX 5 I-Team he thought Gwinnett County had too many bonding companies for the number of people arrested each year — 11 companies when he took office.
He believes the number should be four, making it more likely that those companies would have the financial ability to surrender any bond money for people who failed to show up for their court date.
A sheriff has the ultimate authority to decide who gets to be a bondsman in their county.
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