HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Family members of some defendants charged in what investigators are calling a "colossal bail bond scheme" in Harris County are claiming to have had no idea what was actually going on at AABLE Bonds.
The scheme involves companies allegedly falsifying records to make it easier for defendants to get bond. Some who have been named in the massive indictment are saying that they knew nothing about it.
The raids started early Wednesday morning when the FBI along with local law enforcement agencies went around town rounding up those named in the indictment.
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One of those who were taken into custody was 43-year-old Patrick Brown. Brown faced five charges between 2020 and 2022. His bonds totaled $500,000.
His mother, Yvette Brown, said she got a call from him while he was in jail.
"The bail bonds, they said they guaranteed to get my son out so we need to come out and do the process of the bond," she said.
Yvette and her family paid $19,000 in cash to secure his release. Now, her other son, Michael Ford, and her brother, Cornelius Brown, who helped bail him out, are facing wire fraud charges. According to court documents, they falsified a pay stub.
"I didn't know it was like this here. We would have gone somewhere else," Yvette said.
Judge Juanita Jackson sits on the Harris County Bail Bond Board and said she was surprised to hear about the case. She said the issue of bail documents is something that needs to be taken seriously.
"It is a legal document. It is notarized and anything not appropriate or wrong information, you risk legal action," Jackson said.
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Yvette said federal agents came to talk to them about two years ago and they thought everything was OK. She said she was caught off-guard by the entire ordeal.