JASPER, Tenn. – The former boss of a bail agent charged with soliciting sex for writing a bond testified Friday he’d never had a complaint about the agent’s behavior and that he fired the man as soon as he learned of the charge.
Cumberland Bail Bonding Co. owner Andy Baggenstoss was in Marion County Circuit Court hoping Judge Thomas Graham would thaw the freeze local judges imposed on his bonding business after the Feb. 8 arrest of ex-Cumberland agent Kelvin Pell.
Marion County deputies arrested Pell on Feb. 8 after setting up a sting operation. A woman agreed to wear a wire, and listening lawmen heard Pell talk to her about paying him with sex for writing her bond. Deputies arrested Pell and charged him with patronizing prostitution and sexual battery.
What really aggravated the 12th Judicial District judges was Pell telling the deputies it was “common practice” in the bonding industry to write bonds in exchange for sex. They suspended Cumberland and Baggenstoss’ two other Marion companies, A and A Plus Bonding until, as Graham put it, “we can be sure this never happens again.”
Graham set Friday’s hearing to discuss the incident and hear from the Cumberland owner.