Idaho Statesman

IDAHOSTATESMAN:AMcClatchyNewspaper,1200N.Curtis Road, Boise, ID •P.O. Box40, Boise, ID83707 • (208)377-6200•©2015 IdahoStatesman,Vol.150,No. 300, 3 sections, 32pages

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Timewasrunningout forAladdinBailBonds inBoise inmid-Marchasthecompanydesper-

atelysearchedforbail jumperPhilipClay.Aladdinhadonedayleftbefore itwouldforfeit

$50,000unless theRigbyman,whohadfailedtoappear forapleahearingondrugcharges in

DistrictCourt inBoise,wasapprehendedandtakento jail.Sixbondrecoveryagents,also

knownasbountyhunters,confrontedClay, 58,atanapartmentcomplexparking lot inIdaho

Falls.Whenthefugitivewaveda loadedhandgun,arookiebountyhunterwithacriminal re-

cordfiredfivetimes,killingClay.Statesmanreporter JohnSowellexaminesIdaho’sbounty

huntersystem,whichdoesnotrequire training,certification,experienceorevenafelony-free

record.DEPTH,D1

IDAHO CRIME

IN BOUNTY HUNTING,EX-CONS CHASE FUGITIVES

The killing of a man in Eastern Idaho raises questionsabout the lax bail enforcement business in the state

Philip Clay was being pursued by six bounty huntersthe day he died.

Christopher Schulthies, a hired-gun bountyhunter, shot and killed Philip Clay.

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U.S.AttorneyWendyJ.Olson,above,acknowledgedtheprob-lemswithCorrectionsCorpo-rationofAmerica’sactionsatanIdahoprisonbutsaidacrim-inalcase isnotwarranted.A4

EDITORIAL:CCAcaseacall formoretransparency.D2

PRISON SCANDAL

CCAWON’TFACE FEDERALCHARGES

Boise14-year-oldIlahHick-man,whometIn-teriorSecretarySallyJewell thisweek, setsanexampleforadultsandchildrenaliketofollow,RockyBarker

writes.DEPTH,D1

ROCKY BARKER

Giant salamander’sbest friend wisebeyond her years

IDAHO EDUCATION

CHARTER SCHOOLS

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IDAHO OUTDOORS

SPRINGTIME FISHING IN SOUTHERN IDAHO

Asmallbenefits firmadvises itsclientstopaywhat itdeterminestobearea-sonableamount forservices insteadofthe jaw-droppingchargeshospitalsareaskingfor.DEPTH,D1

HEALTH CARE

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DepthInside:

EDITORIAL: POST-CCA, MORE TRANSPARENCY NEEDED D2

GUEST OPINION: EAGLE URBAN RENEWAL? A PARKING LOT D2

Ifyouwalkedin late totheWildIdahoconferenceatRedfishLodgeonSaturday, thespeaker

wouldhaveappearedtobe likemanyof theyoungprofessionalconservationistsmakingpresenta-tionsonacausethey loved.

AsIlahRoseHickmanad-dressedtheannual IdahoConser-vationLeague’sannualretreat, shestoodtallandpoised,andspokewiththewisdomgainedfromthefiveyears it tookforher togetherbill throughtheIdahoLegislature.Onlywhensherevealedthatshebeganherpersonalquestat theageof9wastheremarkablestrengthof the14-year-oldLesBois JuniorHigheighth-gradersomind-bog-gling.

Hickmansucceededinmakingthegiant Idahosalamanderthestateamphibian intheclosinghoursof the2015Legislature,

whentheHouseStateAffairsCommitteerevivedthebill ithadkilledearly inthesession. Itquick-ly flewthroughbothhousesandwassignedinto lawbyIdahoGov.ButchOtter.

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istswhoarepaidtensof thousandsofdollars tonavigate theirclients’interests throughtheIdahoCapi-tol.At theStatesmanwejokethathadIlahbeenput inchargeofgettingthestate transportationpackagethroughtheLegislature,thesessionwouldhaveendedtwoweeksearlier.

Sheexplainedtothecrowdofnearly 100howsheworkedwithStateSen. JanieWard-Engelking,whowas intheHousewhenHick-man’s journeybegan, toget thebillwritten.

Thatwas infifthgrade, theyearafterasocial studies teacheras-signedherandotherstudents tocomeupwithanewstatesymbolandwriteamockletter totheirlegislator insupport.ButHickmanwasn’t satisfiedwithamockbill.

See BARKER, D4

Boise girl displays poise, wisdom beyond her years

Letters from the West

ROCKY BARKERrbarker@idahostatesman.com

DARIN OSWALD / doswald@idahostatesman.com

Boise 14-year-old Ilah HIckman, right, says persistence is just in hernature. On Tuesday she met Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, who com-mended her on her five-year giant salamander campaign.

When Christopher Schulthies set outMarch 15with a groupof bounty hunters tosearch for an Ada County fugitive, he car-ried a .40-caliber Smith&Wesson semiau-tomatic pistol. Ninety minutes later, PhilipClay, 58, lay dying on the pavement at anapartment complex inAmmon, east of Ida-hoFalls.

Clay had said he would not surrenderwillingly. Authorities say hepointed a loaded handgun attwobountyhunters.Schulthiesfired five timesatClay, strikinghimfourtimes.

YetSchulthies, a 30-year-oldIdahoFallsresident, lackedanyformal training as a police offi-cer,asoldierorevenasaprivate

securityguard.Whathedidhavewasexpe-rienceworkingahandfulofshiftsasanight-

club bouncer, hunting with hisfamily, and racking up drug, al-coholandtrafficconvictions.

In Idaho, that’s more thanenough background to qualifyas a bond recovery agent whocan track down bail jumpers.The law’s only requirement is

thatyoubeanIdahoresident.Evenconvict-ed criminals find work as armed bountyhunters.Ofthesixbountyhunterswhopur-sued Clay that day, three had criminal re-cords.

Bonneville County Prosecutor DanielClark declined to bring charges againstSchulthies. He said the bond agent actedreasonably in shooting Clay after the fugi-tivewavedhisgunaroundandrefusedcom-mandstoput theweapondown.

But Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney be-lieves the system is too lax. He said thatbounty hunters should be required to un-

dergotrainingandthatthestateshould have an oversight pro-cess to evaluate incidents suchasthefatalshootinginAmmon.

“We have to have hundredsof hours of training,” said Ra-ney,referringtoarmedsheriff’sdeputies.“Wehavetohavecon-stant ongoing training, both in

whatthelawisandintacticalsituationsandhow to handle that without escalating todeadlyforce.

“A bail recovery agent doesn’t have tohave any of that. They could put a gun ontheir hip, they could put tactical vests overthetopofthemandgoout.It’sdangerousforthem, and it’s dangerous for the personthey’re takingback intocustody.”

Idaho is one of 15 states that doesn’t re-quiretraining,certificationoranyotherfor-mal process to become a bounty hunter.Nearby states — including Utah, Nevada,Washington,ColoradoandCalifornia—re-quire training and testing. Nevada also re-quires a psychological evaluation. Oregonand three other states don’t permit bountyhuntingatall.

Adequate training might have causedSchulthies and the other bounty hunters tohandle theoperationdifferently, saidKevinRatigan,ownerofSpecialOperationsAssetRecovery, abail-recoveryandprivatesecu-

ritycompanyinBoise.Ratigansaidhetrainshis agents to be less confrontational and totry to defusewhat is already a stressful sit-uation.

Ratigan said he was saddened when helearned of Clay’s death. “There’s no reasonthat anybody’s life should be taken oversomethingassimpleasabailbonditself,”hesaid. “There’s always something else thatcanbedone.”

HOWBOUNTYHUNTINGWORKSWhen a person is arrested and taken to

jail, and bail is set, he or she must put upmoney to be released from custody. Thepayment, which is refundable, is meant toguarantee the defendant’s appearance forcourthearings.Themoreseriousthecrime,thehigher thebail.

For misdemeanor crimes, the bailamount is set by state law. Persons chargedwith felonies must appear before a judge,whodeterminesthebailamount.Thejudgetakes several factors into consideration, in-cludingtheseriousnessofthecrime,thede-fendant’s past criminal record,whether thepersonisemployed,andhisorhertiestothecommunity.

But accused criminals in Idaho do nothavetoposttheentireamountthemselvesif

CRIME

For bounty hunters,Idaho is still Wild West

/ The Associated Press

An investigator examines the scene of the March 15 shooting of Philip Clay in the parking lotof an Ammon apartment complex.

Even convicted criminalsfind work tracking down

people who skiptheir court dates.

BAIL COMPANYSEEKSMONEY,DRAWSREBUKE

Philip Claywas killed on the 179thday of the 180days that a bail bondcompany has to return a fugitive tocustody under Idaho lawbefore itforfeits the bond it put up for theclient to get out of jail.

The next day, the company filed amotion seeking a refund of the$50,000bond it submitted onClay’sbehalf.

FourthDistrict JudgeCheri Copseyrejected the company’s request in ascathingwritten opinion.

“Aladdin Bail Bonds, in this case,agreed to either surrenderClay orpay the bond amount. Instead ofsurrendering him, its agents killedhim, andwhether that killingwasunavoidable, caused byClay’s ownacts or even inevitable, is irrelevant,”Copseywrote in anApril 20 decision.“The agreementwithAladdin BailBondswas not that it produceClaydead or alive. It was to surrender himto the jurisdiction of the court or, ifthat fails, to pay the amount of thebond.”

Aladdin has askedCopsey toreconsider.

John Sowell

BY JOHN SOWELL

jsowell@idahostatesman.com© 2015 Idaho Statesman

!READ THE BONNEVILLE COUNTY

PROSECUTOR’S RELEASE ON THE

SHOOTING IdahoStatesman.com

See BOUNTY, D3

Christopher

Schulthies

Philip Clay

Sheriff Gary

Raney

In the late 1990s, youcouldhavetakenwhathospitalschargedtoad-minister inpatient chemotherapyand bought a Ford Escort econo-box. Today, average chemo charg-es (not even counting the price ofthe anti-cancer drugs) are enoughto pay for a Lexus GX sport utilityvehicle,governmentdatashow.

Hospitalpriceshaverisennearlythreetimesasmuchasoverall infla-tionsinceRonaldReaganwaspresi-dent.Partiesthatpayhospitalshavetried HMOs, accountable care or-ganizations and other innovationstocontrol them,with littleeffect.

Elap Services, a small benefitsconsulting firm based in ChesterSprings,Pa.,iscausingacommotionbysuggestinganalternative:Refusetopay.Whenhospitals send invoic-eswith jaw-dropping charges, Elaptells its clients (generally medium-sizedemployers) to justsayno.

Instead, these clients pay muchlower amounts, based on Elap’sanalysisofwhat is reasonableafteranalyzing the hospitals’ financialfilings.

Hospitals are unhappywith thisunusual strategy, but they havefailedtomakeheadwayagainstitincourt.

“It was a leap of faith” whenHuffines Auto Dealerships, whichcovers 300 employees and theirfamilies, signedon to theElapplana few years ago, said Eric Hartter,chief financialofficer for theTexascompany.

What he says now: “This is thebestformoftruehealthcarereformthat I’vecomeacross.”

Huffines first worked with Elapon charges for an employee’s backsurgery. The worker had spentthreedays inaDallashospital.Thebillwas$600,000,Harttersaid.

Like many businesses, the dea-lership pays its workers’ healthcostsdirectly.Atthetime,itwasus-ing a claims administrator that setup a traditional “preferred provid-er”networkwithagreeddiscountsatvarioushospitals.

The administrator looked at thebill andsaid, “ ‘Don’tworry.Bythetime we apply the discounts andeverything else, it’ll be down toabout $300,000,’ ” Hartter re-called. “I said, ‘What’s the differ-ence? That doesn’t make me feelanybetter.’ ”

Instead, he hadElap analyze thebill. The firm estimated costs forthe treatment based on the hospi-tal’s financial reports filed withMedicare.Then it addedacushionso the hospital couldmake amod-estprofit.

“Wewrote a check to the hospi-tal for$28,900,andweneverheardfromthemagain,”Harttersaid.

Now Huffines and Elap, whichlaunched this service in 2007 and

HEALTH CARE

Hospital billstoo high?

One strategy:Don’t pay

See HOSPITAL BILLS, D4

APennsylvania-basedbenefits firm is disruptingbusiness as usual with itsadvice to clients.

BY JAY HANCOCK

KAISER HEALTH NEWS

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1

someone elsewill. Bail bondcompanies make a businessof that. The suspect pays anonrefundable percentageof the bail amount — Idahosetsnolimit,butitistypically10 percent — to the bailbondsman.

The bail bond companyrequiresthesuspecttohaveaco-signer and will requirecollateral,whichcanincludeproperty.Thecompanybuysabondfromasuretycompa-ny. That bond is a writtenpromise to pay the fullamount to the court if thesuspect fails to showupforacourthearing.

The surety and bail bondcompanies have a powerfulfinancial motive to makesure the suspect appears incourt. If the suspect doesn’t,the court typically will givethecompany180daystofindand produce the suspect, orforfeit thebond.

Without a bail bond, thesuspect or another personmust put up the entire$50,000 in cash. Either way,the courtwill refund the fullamount if the suspectmakesall court hearings.The courtcan keep the money if not.The bail bond companykeeps the 10 percent pay-mentnomatterwhat.

BONDAGENTS’POWEROVERDEFENDANTS

Bailbondcompanieshavewide latitude indealingwiththeirclientsaftertheyputupmoney on their behalf. Un-der an 1872 U.S. SupremeCourt ruling, companiesmay revoke a person’s bailany time, even if the clienthas shown up for all courthearings. The court ruledthatbountyhunterscanevenbreakdownthedoorofares-idence without the warrantthatwouldbe required if po-lice triedtoenter thehome.

If a suspect fails to showupforcourt,violatesacondi-tion of release or violates acontract with the bail bondcompany, the companymaysend an agent after the sus-pect or may hire a bountyhunter.

Clay, the Ammon shoot-ing victim, failed to showupfor a Sept. 17 hearing in 4thDistrictCourt inBoise toen-ter a plea to drug charges.Clay,who lived inRigby,hadcome toBoise sevenmonthsearlier tobuyagenerator forhis mother’s house. He hadbeenstayingwithafriendonprobation for forgery, do-mesticviolenceanddruguseconvictions when thefriend’s probation officercame to his home in the 300block of South PhillippiStreet.

Police officers who ac-

companiedtheprobationof-ficer found seven baggiescontaining methampheta-mine in a gym bag. The po-lice had no search warrant,butaconditionofthefriend’sprobationwasthathepermita search of his premises atanytime.

Clay told police that themeth was his and that heplanned to sell it. Police ar-rested Clay on a charge ofpossessionofmethampheta-minewiththeintenttodeliv-er and possession of drugparaphernalia. Clay ar-rangedforhis$50,000bail tobe paid by Aladdin BailBonds in Boise, with thebond put up by AmericanContractors Indemnity Co.ofLosAngeles.

TEAMOFHUNTERSPURSUESOFFENDER

When Clay did not showup for his plea hearing, Dis-trict Judge Cheri Copseyruled that he had forfeitedthebond.Copseyresetbailat$100,000 and issued a war-rant forhisarrest.

NorthwestSuretyInvesti-gations, which has owner-ship ties to Aladdin BailBonds—bothareheadquar-tered in Carlsbad, Calif. —assigned bond recoveryagent Shaun Skogrand, ofCaldwell,toapprehendClay.

Skogrand, a former Cald-wellpoliceofficer,haspoliceacademy training and is cer-tified as a bond recoveryagent in Washington, Utah,Nevada and Colorado. Hechased leads in Rigby, Boiseand Nampa, places whereClay formerly lived. Hespoke to relatives and otherpeople who knew Clay andchecked out bars and otherplaces he was known to fre-quent.

SkograndfacedaMarch16deadline to capture Clay be-fore the 180-day life of thebail bond expired. If he

missed that deadline, thebondcompanywouldforfeititsmoney.

HearrangedforJamesEg-gleston,29,ownerofVetsSe-curity in Idaho Falls, to jointhe search. Eggleston em-ployed Schulthies as a secu-rityguard.

Northwest Surety sentfouradditionalemployeesorcontract agents — Guy Bra-

cali-Gambino,50, Alfredo Ar-reguin Jr, 29,KathleenFlores,46, and MichaelMoore, 47, allfrom the Boisearea—tosearchfor Clay. He had

reportedly been spottednearIdahoFalls.

THEHUNTERS’CRIMINALRECORDS

➤ Schulthies spent 22days in the JeffersonCountyJailaftera2012convictiononpossession of a controlled

substance and for a proba-tionviolation in 2013.HehasconvictionsonfivecountsofbatteryinCuster,Bonnevilleand Jerome counties be-tween1998and2013. In2007,he was convicted in Bonne-villeCountyof frequentingaplace where controlled sub-stances are used anddrivingwhile intoxicated.

Inaddition,Schulthieshasnumerous Idaho convic-tions for lack of auto insur-ance, notwearinga seatbelt,speeding and failure to obeyatrafficcontroldevice.

➤ Bracali-Gambino has adomestic violence casepending in Boise. He haspleadednotguilty.

Bracali-Gambino wascharged with domestic vio-lence and four counts of in-jurytoachildin2011.Helaterpleaded guilty to disturbingthepeaceandwassentencedtofourdaysintheAdaCoun-ty Jail. He had failed to ap-pearforaJuly11,2011,hearing

in that case, prompting ajudge to issue a warrant forhisarrest.

He also has several con-victions for driving withoutprivileges, failure to provideauto insurance, operating avehicle without registrationand for having an invalid li-cense. A third domestic vio-lence charge from 2007 wasdismissed.

➤ Arreguin was chargedwith malicious injury topropertyandresistingorob-structing officers in 2011 inBoise. He later pleadedguiltytodisturbingthepeaceand served a day in the AdaCounty Jail. He previouslyspent two days in the Ca-nyon County Jail on a 2004conviction for unlawful en-tryandresistingorobstruct-ingofficers inNampa.

➤ Flores was chargedwith unlawful entry in 2009in Boise, but the charge waslaterdismissed.

Skogranddidnottakepartin the operation on the dayClaywaskilled.

‘THEYHIREOUTPEOPLEWHOHAVENOIDEAWHATTHEY’REDOING’

Eggleston said Schulthieshas declined to speak withreporters since the Ammonshooting. Aladdin BailBonds,NorthwestSuretyIn-vestigations and Skogrunddidnot reply to calls seekingcomment. Two numbers as-sociated with Bracali-Gam-bino were no longer in ser-vice. Numbers for Arreguin,Moore and Flores could notbe located.

Bounty hunting seems toattract people with criminalbackgrounds, Raney said. “Iwouldn’t say all of them areof that type of person, butcertainly a lot of them thatI’verunintoare,”hesaid.

Acacia Hamilton, co-owner of Double TroubleBail Bonds in Boise, agrees.She said she’s bothered bythe tactics used by somebounty hunters, which shesaid border on illegal. Thebounty hunters involved inshooting Clay were accusedof pulling over a relative ofhis and of refusing to tellBonneville County deputieswhere a person who had in-formation on Clay’s where-abouts was. A warrant hadbeen issued for that person’sarrest.

“Ihategetting thegovern-ment involved, but I thinkthey should be licensed orthey should take mandatoryclasses,” Hamilton said.“What I’ve seen is they hireoutpeoplewhohaveno ideawhat they’redoing.”

Hamiltonsaidhercompa-ny handles fugitive appre-hensions itself. DoubleTrouble last week wassearching for 11 fugitives outof hundreds of inmates the

company had bonded out ofjail, shesaid.

TRAININGWON’THELP ,EMPLOYERSAYS

Eggleston,whoemployedSchulthies, said he doesn’tsee the need for specializedtraining for bond recoveryagents.

“You can have as muchtraining as you want, butwhensomebodyhasagunorother weapon pointed to-ward you or someone youcareabout,you’regoingtodowhat you need to do to pro-tect that person or yourself,regardless of training,” Eg-gleston said. “Mr. Schulthieshad the training that he had,yetatthesametime,Mr.Claywas a convicted felon. Henever shouldhavehad a guninthefirstplace.”

Eggleston notes that thepolice trainingofBonnevilleCounty sheriff’s Sgt. NathanBennion didn’t stop a fatalApril 6 confrontation withTyrell J. Larsen, 31, of Rigby.Larsen jumped out of hispickupwitharifleinhishandafter trying to elude policejust before midnight. Videoand audio footage showedthat Bennion repeatedly or-dered Larsen — toxicologytests later showed that hewas under the influence ofmethamphetamine— to putdown the gun. The deputyfired six shots, striking Lar-senfourtimes.

“Did he need more train-ing before hewas put out onthe road?” Eggleston asked.“Myguydidwhathethoughtwasright,andI’mgratefulforthat.”

State Rep. Rich Wills, R-GlennsFerry,aformerIdahoState Police trooper who ischairman of theHouse Judi-ciary Committee, thinkswhat happened in Ammonwasananomaly.Still, hesaidhe thinks there should besome kind of criteria forbountyhunters.

“Certainly, I think just thisphone call is going to makeme ask some questions Ihaven’t even considered orthought about,” he told theIdahoStatesman.

Raneysaid:“Unfortunate-ly, we often wait until thosetragic situations occur be-forewechangethe law.”

JohnSowell: 377-6423;

Twitter:@IDS_Sowell

BOUNTYCONTINUED FROM D1

DARIN OSWALD / doswald@idahostatesman.com

Jackie and Acacia Hamilton, co-owners of Double Trouble Bail Bonds, routinely attendarraignment hearings at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise seeking new clients.

CERTIFICATIONREQUIRED

FORBAIL BONDAGENTS

Kevin Ratigan, owner of SpecialOperationsAssetRecovery in Boise, registers his bail enforcement agentsthrough the IdahoDepartment of Insurance. It’s the samecertification required for bail bond agents.

The process requires testing, a criminal backgroundcheck, a $15,000performance bond and ongoing educa-tion. Applicantsmust “be trustworthy; of good characterand reputation as tomorals, integrity (and) financialresponsibility.”

A criminal conviction requires awaiver from the direc-tor of insurance and a finding that the applicant has beenrehabilitated and otherwise qualified.

Without such certification, Ratigan said, there are nostandards a recovery agentmust follow.

“They’re not governed. They’re not really controlledother thanwhat any cowboywith a gun is controlled by,”said Ratigan,who served in theU.S. Army andwho is apartner in Beneficial Bail Bonds in Boise.

Ratigan,who employs five agents full time and has sixadditional agents on call, said he provides regular trainingand discussesways to defuse a situation and get a fugitiveto surrender voluntarilywithout violence.

John Sowell

JOHNSOWELLJohn, an Emmett

native, Sowell coverscrime andcourts forthe States-man.Hehaswrittenaboutseveral

shootings over the pastcouple of years.

Guy Bracali

-Gambino