24-Hour Captivity of 3 Is No Crime, Judge Decides

A Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that two bail agents committed no crime when they held a woman, her daughter and another man for 24 hours while searching for the woman’s husband, who had jumped bail.

Although the actions of Donald Webber and Brian Walsh were “outlandish, they were not illegal” as the prosecutor suggested, said Judge Frederick K. Rotenburg at the Alhambra Courthouse. Rotenburg also dismissed charges that Webber raped the woman.

Webber and Walsh left the courtroom in tears immediately after the judge’s ruling.

“I’m just glad this is over,” said Walsh, 25, of Chino Hills.

“This whole thing has been ridiculous from the very beginning,” said attorney Alvin Michaelson, who represented Walsh.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Philip C. Wojdak said he was disappointed with the ruling. “It concerns me that people like Mr. Webber are given carte blanche to go around forcing people to do their bidding,” he said.

Jose Cabrera, also known as Rogelio Cruz, and his wife were arrested in November 2000 in San Bernardino County on suspicion of transportation and possession of cocaine and heroin. Cabrera was released on $100,000 bail, the woman on bail of $25,000. She pleaded guilty and was freed to await sentencing.

Cabrera, however, failed to show up for a court appearance. A judge issued an arrest warrant and submitted a forfeiture notice to the bail bond agent.

Webber and Walsh, bail agents employed by an insurance company retained by bail bondsmen, went to a house in Alhambra on Feb. 15, 2001, in search of Cabrera, and found his wife, her daughter and her brother, Jorge Leal, who identified himself as Jose Ramirez.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors agreed that Walsh and Webber had the right to detain the woman and revoke her parole, because she was out on bail and the men caught her flushing plastic bags of rock cocaine down the toilet. Some cocaine was discovered elsewhere and turned over to police.

Wojdak argued, though, that the men overstepped their authority and the limits of the law by keeping the woman in custody until Cabrera was captured a day later, instead of turning her over to police immediately.

The pair also broke the law when they forced the woman to help them find Cabrera, Wojdak said.

The men acted like “outlaws,” Wojdak said. “They are licensed bail bondsmen and they should know better.”

Prosecutors had charged the men with kidnapping for ransom. Webber, 32, faced the additional rape charge.

Wojdak acknowledged that DNA evidence taken from the scene did not match a sample obtained from Webber’s blood, but he said Tuesday that additional tests were pending.

“I feel strongly that I think we should [appeal],” Wojdak said. “The D.A.’s office and I have to look at the totality of the evidence to make that determination.”