Category Archives: Tulare County Bail Bonds

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Domestic Violence in California

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Domestic violence is a complex crime so it shouldn’t come as surprise to learn that the laws dealing with domestic violence are equally complicated.

The first step in unraveling this complex system is knowing exactly what domestic violence is. California defines domestic violence as actions that either harm or threaten to harm an intimate partner.

It’s important to understand that there are sub-categories of domestic violence which include:

✦ Domestic battery (actual physical abuse)
✦ Domestic assault (the use of words or actions to threaten physical abuse)

It’s not unusual for domestic violence cases to involve both domestic battery and domestic assault.

California law is written in such a way that only a limited number of people can file domestic violence charges. At this point, domestic violence charges can only be filed by:

✦ Spouses
✦ Registered domestic partners
✦ Live-in lovers (also considered a cohabitant)
✦ Someone who shares a child with the accused
✦ Fiancées
✦ Someone who has been in a steady romantic relationship with the accused.

California law states that both current and former domestic partners can file domestic violence charges.

Many people are surprised to learn that domestic violence is one of California’s wobbler crimes. That means it can be charged as either a misdemeanor or felony. When the prosecutor is looking at the case, they consider many variables when deciding if they want to pursue misdemeanor or felony charges.

Considerations include:

✦ Circumstances surrounding the incident
✦ How badly the victim was injured
✦ The accused’s criminal past
✦ The couple’s history (have there been numerous reports of domestic violence)

If convicted of misdemeanor domestic assault, the accused could spend a year in county jail. If convicted of felony domestic assault, they could be sentenced to four years in prison.

The punishment for misdemeanor domestic battery includes a year in county jail and a $2,000 fine.

Our Agents Are Here for You

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Our Agents Are Here for You

The average person doesn’t wake up with the intent of bailing someone out of jail. In order for anyone to plan this, they would have to plan on a friend or family member getting arrested, which no one wants to do. Due to this, many people never really learn about bail or how it works. If they ever actually need to bail someone out, they tend to feel lost and confused.

If this has happened to you, you’re going to want some help to rescue their loved one from jail. A professional bail agent will be able to provide you with the assistance that you need. The best way to talk to an expert bail agent is by contacting Porterville Bail Bonds. Our knowledgeable bail agents will be able to guide you through the entire bail process.

At Porterville Bail Bonds, our bail agent are some of the best in California. Each agent receives training every other year. This keeps them at the top of their game, and ensures that our clients get the best help we can give them. You won’t be able to find better help anywhere else in the state.

Getting in touch with our agents is incredibly easy. This is due to the fact that our agents are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Whenever you need help, you can count on us to be there for you. You have multiple options when it comes to talking to an agent. You can:

•Call our toll free number.
•Chat with an agent on our website.
•Visit one of our many offices across the state.

When it comes to bail bonds, most people have never dealt with it before. Luckily, our experts here at Porterville Bail Bonds will be more than happy to help you. With one of our bail agents at your side, your loved one will be out of jail in no time at all.

Call 559-784-8660 or click Chat With Us for a free consultation with one of our agents at any time.

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Beware of Porch Pirates This Holiday Season

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Beware of Porch Pirates This Holiday Season

The holiday season is here. This means that people all over will be flock to stores, both brick and mortar, and virtual alike as they search for the perfect gifts for their loved ones. While this is a very merry time of the year, there are unfortunately some Scrooges out there who like to take advantage of unsuspecting people.

Even when someone is shopping online, they need to be careful. If they aren’t then someone else could end up with their loved one’s Christmas gift. This can happen when the gift is eventually delivered. If it is left unattended for too long, then a passerby may decide to take for themselves. While most people wouldn’t do this, there are plenty of people out there who would.

Tips for Avoiding Package Theft

One of the simplest ways to avoid package theft is for a person to do all of their shopping at brick and mortar stores. This completely eliminates the chances of some thief stealing the items off the front porch. Of course, this method is incredibly tedious and inconvenient. Shopping online is so much simpler.

Luckily for online shoppers, there are ways of keeping their packages safe, thereby ensuring they get to the intended recipient. Many shipping companies have come to recognize the problem of package theft, and provide their clients with options to protect their shipments. A person is much more likely to get their package if they take advantage of these options accordingly.

First and foremost, get the tracking number for the shipment. This simple number allows a person to monitor their package and have a more accurate idea of when it will be delivered. From there, a person will either be able to get the package themselves, or possibly have a neighbor pick it up for them.

FedEx and the United States Postal Service (USPS) both allow customers to schedule their shipments in advanced. This helps a person make sure that they, or someone they trust, will be at home when the delivery arrives. Then the package will be able to be taken off the porch before some wannabe thief strolls by and gets a bright idea.

Some shipping companies, such as FedEx, also allow customers to require a signature for the delivery. This way, the package won’t be left at the house unless someone signs for it.

Another option that is available with some shippers, is the ability to make special requests with the delivery. A person can leave special instructions that the delivery person will follow, such as leaving the package at the back door or hidden in the bushes.

Another simple option that is available with all shipping companies is to have the package delivered to a different address. A person could have the package shipped to a trusted neighbor who is always home, or if their work allows it, ship it to their office.

Many stores allow their customers to use in-store pickup. The person orders the item online, and then can pick it up at a local store. Amazon offers a similar service called Amazon Locker where they will ship items to a local locker and giver the customer a code to open said locker. Even UPS has a service like this, where a person can request that the item be sent to a nearby UPS store where the item can then be picked up. These options eliminate any chances of the item being left in the open where a thief could take it. A person just needs to look into what the shipper or retailer offers.

Penalties of Porch Piracy

Package theft from front doors, or package piracy as it is commonly called, is typically a crime of opportunity. More often than not, the thief was simply strolling or driving by when they saw the package and decided to take the unclaimed item for themselves. To them, it seems so simple. They only see it as taking a package, and so they don’t expect to get into any real trouble. However, that is not the case.

After all, the stealing of a package is theft. This can get a person charged with theft, petty or grand depending on the value of the contents of the package. A person could also face charges of mail theft.

Petty theft (Penal Code 484a & 488) and mail theft (Penal Code 530.5e) are misdemeanors that can earn a person:

• Up to 1 year in county jail.
• A max fine of $1,000.
• Some combination fine and jail time.

Grand theft (Penal Code 487) involves the theft of any items that have a value greater than $950. The crime of grand theft can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony in California. The consequences for committing misdemeanor grand theft in California are similar to the ones above. Felony Grand theft can earn a person 16 months, 2 years, or 3 years in prison, plus hefty fines.

Practice Safe Shipping

If a person wants to keep their shipments safe this holiday season, then they need to practice safe shipping. This means taking advantage of the above tips to ensure that either someone is there to pick-up the package, or it is put in a safe place for the person to pick-up later. So long as a person does that, they guarantee that they will get their packages safely. In turn, this means that their loved ones will all get the perfect gifts this holiday season. Who doesn’t want that?

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But There Was a Spider!

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But There Was a Spider!

People being afraid of spiders is no secret. While most people don’t suffer from full blown arachnophobia, many people still have a fear of eight-legged creatures. Something about them truly wigs people out, even if they aren’t a venomous species. Due to this fact, many people kill spiders on sight.

The fear is so real for many people, that the internet has an ongoing joke of killing it, meaning the spider, with fire. There are also jokes about burning the whole house down and just building a new one once a spider has been found inside. One Fresno man missed the fact that these are meant to be taken as jokes, not literally.

The man in question was house sitting his parents’ home when he noticed a black widow spider. Apparently, the man decided to use a blowtorch to kill the spider with fire. Unfortunately for him, the house caught on fire. Nearly thirty firefighters battled the blaze, which the home’s second story and attic. There is no word on whether or not the spider escaped the blaze.

Let this serve as a lesson, killing spiders with fire, while a funny online joke, is not a good idea. If not careful, a person could very easily set there house on fire, which is something nobody wants to do. Not really, anyways. Plus, if they miss the spider, they may just make it angry.

Do You Know What Co-Signers Are?

Who Do They Think Committed the Crime?

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Who Do They Think Committed the Crime?

A lot of people dream of being famous one day, especially here in California. It is kind of hard not to think about fame and fortune when you live so close to Hollywood. The thing is, fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. For instance, if you are famous, you get recognized all the time. Sometimes, you may get recognized in the worst ways possible.

This is exactly what has happened to Friends actor David Schwimmer recently after a robbery in Blackpool, England. A restaurant in the city of Blackpool was recently robbed. Luckily, there is security footage of the incident, and the suspect in question can be clearly seen. The thing is, the suspect has a striking resemblance to David Schwimmer.

When the Blackpool Police posted some of the images on their social media sites, many commenters were quick to point this fact out. Many jokes and references to the TV sitcom Friends were shared as the people viewed the images. Eventually, the Blackpool Police commented that they investigated the matter and confirmed that Schwimmer was not in the country during the time of the incident.

Schwimmer himself even took to social media to join in on the fun. The actor posted a video to his personal Twitter with the hashtag “itwasntme.” The video shows Schwimmer emulating some of the pictures of the suspect in question. The actor also wished the Blackpool Police some good luck with their investigation.

As you can see, fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Sometimes people think they’ve seen someone famous when that person wasn’t there. Luckily, in this instance, it was simply a case of mistaken identity.

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Areas Where You Don’t Want to Settle in California

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Areas Where You Don’t Want to Settle in California

When it comes to the state of California, there are so many different choices when it comes to finding a place to settle down. A person can settle down in a city by the open desert, or in a small, forested mountain town. California has so many options that finding the right place to live here can be a bit intimidating.

Recently Porterville Bail Bonds, in an effort to help people keep themselves and their families safe, took a look at what cities were considered to be the safest in the state of California. Some of the cities ranked in the top ten safest included Danville, Irvine, Chino Hills, and Mission Viejo. This provided people with a lot of information about what areas they might want to consider settling down in someday. However it also got a lot of people wondering, what cities are the most dangerous in the state of California?

What Do Crime Rates Mean?

Anyone looking to move to a new area has probably come across the term crime rates or statistics in their research. For those unaware of what those are, they are simply bits of data that has been collected by various organizations in order to get an idea of what crime is like in that area. These statistics are like a sort of crime grade for the area.

This information usually comes from local law enforcement agencies and then is studied and analyzed by different groups. The groups then give their grade for the area. Depending on the group in question, the grade can vary drastically. This is due to the fact that some groups weigh certain types of crimes differently than other organizations.

When it comes to studying crime rates, all crimes tend to fall into two categories:

Violent crimes – These are crimes that are directed at people and involve threats of violence. This includes crimes such as assault and murder.
Property crimes – These are crimes that are directed at possessions and property. This includes crimes such as theft and vandalism.

Typically, organizations looking at crime data weigh violent crimes more heavily than property crimes since they tend to me the more dangerous crimes. However, each group is different and so crime rates can vary slightly from one study to another.

Some lists even take things a step further and look at more than just crimes committed in the area in the last year. They can also look at things such as poverty levels and local law enforcement funding.

The Top 5 Most Dangerous Cities in California

According to data collected by The Sacramento Bee in 2017, the following cities are ranked as the worst in the state of California. This list looks at murder rates for cities with populations greater than 50,000.

Compton: 35.4 murders for every 100,000 residents.
San Bernardino: 28.5 murders for every 100,000 residents.
Salinas: 22.1 Murders for every 100,000 residents.
Oakland: 20 murders for every 100,000 residents.
Richmond: 18.9 murders for every 100,000 residents.

As mentioned above, each group that looks at crime rates analyzes the data differently. This particular list focuses solely on the violent crime of murder. Another list may look at a broader spectrum of information.

Using the Data Effectively

When it comes to looking up crime data before moving, doing research is important. Since different organizations will weigh different aspects of data more or less than other groups, the chances of two lists being the same are slim to none.

If a person is feeling truly ambitious, they can look-up the most recent information on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) page. The FBI monitors crime statistics from all over the country and compiles the numbers annually for citizens to see. Of course, navigating a government run website isn’t always the easiest thing to do if a person doesn’t know what they are looking for.

However, a person doing their own research in this matter is important. This will allow him, or her, to find a list that weighs the data in a way that feels right to them. From there, the person will be able to make an informed on which California cities they do not want to live in next.

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Turning Off the Power Due to High Winds

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Turning Off the Power Due to High Winds

Fall has finally arrived, and for Californian, that means it is time to brace yourselves against the strong winds that come with the season. These strong winds can topple trees and powerlines, which when combined with dry brush, can spark out of control wildfires. This means that not only do residents have to brace themselves against the breeze, they have to be on the lookout for wildfires.

This is exactly what happened last year in Yuba County with the Cascade Fire that burned roughly 10,000 acres and killed 4 people. After the fire, it was determined that sagging powerlines from Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) sparked the blaze. With the company now facing billions of dollars in damages owed, it is taken preemptive measures to make sure what happened in 2017, doesn’t happen again.

As the winds began to increase, and high wind warnings and advisories were issued, the company began alerting its customers that it would be shutting off power to high risk areas. This amounted to roughly 60,000 customers being left without power.

As one would expect, this caused a great deal of problems for everyone. Food spoiled in warming refrigerators, traffic became a nightmare without working signals, jobs were unable to be done, and schools were closed across six Northern California counties. Many disgruntled customers took to Twitter to complain about the incident and the problems it caused.

While PG&E’s move did prevent any new wildfires from sparking up, it left thousands of people in very unpleasant situations. PG&E was not the only California utility company to do this, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric also cut off power to customers, though on a smaller scale.

What do you think about the practice of shutting off power to prevent wildfires? Should California utility companies do it more often? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.

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Googly-Eyed Vandalism

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Googly-Eyed Vandalism

Googly eyes are pretty fun and goofy. This is just scientific fact. The funny little eyes bounce around and make anything look like it isn’t quite looking in the right direction. These silly little things can be placed on pretty much anything and get a good laugh. Well, at least most people will think it is funny.

Recently, googly eyes actually made headlines after a Georgia Monument was vandalized. Upon hearing the term vandalized, a person may wonder just how a person managed to damaged something with googly eyes. Well, they didn’t. All that happened was that some googly eyes were stuck to a bronze statue of General Nathanael Greene. Once the eyes were removed, it was determined that there was no permanent damage.

However, that did not stop the city from filing a police report on the issue. The Savannah Police Department is now investigating the situation. They did not find the googly eyes amusing. They are currently searching for the culprit with the intent of charging him or her with vandalism. The police do not want people going around defacing things, and they definitely don’t want things to get out of hand.

When the Savannah Police Department posted a picture of the incident on their Facebook, they questioned who would do such a thing. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t get quite the response they were looking for. Many commenters found the incident funny, since it was just googly eyes. One commenter stated that the statue was “vandaleyesed.”

What do you think? Should the police continue to search for the culprit responsible, or should they let it go? Let us know down in the comments below.

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Drivers Have to Stop

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Drivers Have to Stop

California is notorious for having drivers who like to play by their own rules. Drivers in the state seem to follow the mentality that if everyone does it, it must be okay. However, this is not the case. After all, if other drivers drove off of a bridge, you wouldn’t follow them. Besides, a driver can still get into trouble for breaking a law, even if other drivers broke it too.

A perfect example of this is when drivers approach stop signs. A driver is supposed to come to a full stop at the limit line, the white line in the road, when they approach a stop sign. This is required by law. However, many drivers prefer to do a rolling stop, also known as a California stop.

A rolling stop occurs when a vehicle does not stop. Instead, it slows to an almost stop, then continues on without truly coming to a stop. This common practice is actually illegal and can earn a person a traffic ticket. A ticket for this offense can cost around $140. As with all traffic violations in California, acquiring too many tickets for rolling stops can cause a person to lose their license.

When a driver approaches a stop sign, they need to stop at the limit line, or the edge of the crosswalk. The vehicle needs to come to a full stop, meaning the wheels aren’t moving and the speedometer needle is at 0. After stopping for 3 seconds, the driver can then proceed through the intersection if it is clear.

Drivers in a hurry tend to not stop, preferring to simply slow instead, in order to save time. This can be dangerous and cause an accident, which is why it is against the law. If a law enforcement officer sees a driver do this, they will pull that driver over and give him or her a ticket.

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The Penalties of Dogfighting in California

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The Penalties of Dogfighting in California

When it comes to owning animals, people are supposed to treat the animal with the same respect that they would a human. If a person does not take care of an animal, then they can face animal abuse charges. Animal abuse on its own is pretty bad, but forcing an animal to fight another animal for personal amusement is another thing entirely.

Here in California, the state has its own separate law regarding dogfights. California Penal Code 597.5 for a person to own a dog with the intent of having it engage in a fight. This law also makes it illegal to be a spectator of a dog fight.

The penalties for California’s dogfighting laws vary between misdemeanor and felony depending on the actual crime the person is accused of. If a person is caught in a place where they know a dogfight is being prepared, then they will only face misdemeanor charges. This will get them up to 1 year in county jail and/or a max fine of $5,000.

Most other forms of violation of this law will result in felony charges. This can earn a person anywhere from 16 months to 3 years in prison with a max fine of $50,000. This proves just how seriously the state of California takes this offense.

If a person suspects that a dog is being trained for dogfights, or that these kinds of fights are being held in their area, they need to report it to local authorities. The police will handle things and help save the abused animals.