Family Traumatized After Bounty Hunters Come Pounding On The Wrong Door
ROSEVILLE (CBS13) — It's a bounty hunter blunder. Bail bondsmen arrived at a Roseville home late at night, yelling, knocking on windows and kicking the front door. But it turns out, they had the wrong house.
Now that homeowner wants police to get involved.
It was just before 10 p.m. when the Perryman family heard a loud knock at the door.
"It was a solid thump like they were trying to break and enter," Kaila Perryman said. "It sounded like someone was trying to kick in the door at one point."
Then, a man shining a flashlight through their window yelled: "open up." Kaila Perryman says she took video as a bail bondsman yelled for every person inside to come out. The men left marks outside their front door.
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"I saw the man's face through these little panes right here. He was looking up into the house and shining lights through these," Kaila Perryman said.
Her mom says her two younger kids were terrified. From inside her home, Perryman asked who was at the door, but says they would not identify themselves.
"They said, 'Come down right now, we have questions for you,'" Perryman said.
But the bondsmen would not give up and even approached her neighbors.
"He shined his flashlight on me saying, 'Are you sure you don't know this person? Who else lives across the street?'" neighbor Britny Webb said.
But these bounty hunters, who were trying to serve a felony warrant, were knocking on the wrong door. Now the Perrymans say they're traumatized and want to take legal action. The family can press charges if they can provide physical proof these agents broke the law.
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CBS13 dug deeper into the legal obligations bounty hunters have when they try to serve a warrant. Legally, bounty hunters are required to carry an ID and show it on request. They cannot forcibly enter a premise and are not allowed to pass themselves off as law enforcement. Additionally, they must let law enforcement know they will be on scene.
Former Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinnis says bounty hunters do have some authority as part of the justice system.
"Frankly, society wants them to apprehend those people who have jumped bail," McGinnis said.
He said if these agents made a simple mistake, the Perryman's case likely would not hold up in court.
"In terms of any clear evidence of criminal or improper conduct, mistakes in good faith happen," McGinnis said.
For Perryman, she is just hoping for community awareness "that bail bonds companies are running around acting like police and scaring people to death.