Sheriff Dart Says Gun Offenders Are Bonding Out Too Easily
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said people charged with gun crimes in Chicago are bonding out of jail much too easily.
Sheriff Dart said he looked at accused gun offenders over a four-month period and found that many of them were able to make bond - even a high bond - and go right back to the neighborhood they came from.
"People charged with gun offenses are coming up with outrageous amounts of money to get themselves out. And where is the money coming from? We started connecting the dots, and we found that certain gangs that people are affiliated with are coming up with large amounts of money."
Dart said one gang came up with $600,000 in bond money during the four-month period he studied.
He said during a one-month period, 25 percent of the people charged with gun offenses got out of jail in less than 30 days because they made bail.
Bu, he said, among the people charged with retail theft: only four percent got out.
"So if you got caught with a gun, you got out. If you stole a Twinkie, you stayed in jail."
He said what's needed - for one thing - is for the Illinois House to pass a bill the state senate approved, which would let judges set no bond in some gun cases.
Dart said that in the four-month period he looked at, more than 350 accused gun offenders made bond, and he says 62 percent of them had gang ties - gangs that spent almost $2 million to bail out their comrades during those four months this year.
