Bail bond agent sentenced to one day

An Amboy woman was sentenced Thursday to one day in jail for her role in a bail bond-recovery mission gone wrong.

In an agreement with prosecutors, Victoria E. Jones, 21, pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court on Thursday to second-degree criminal assistance, a gross misdemeanor. In exchange, Deputy Prosecutor Dan Gasperino dismissed a charge of first-degree burglary. Judge Robert Lewis sentenced Jones to one day in jail, which she has already served.

Her fiancé, Jason R. Stomps, 40, and David L. Smith, 30, of Kelso, who are both bail bond recovery agents, are scheduled to be tried Dec. 8 on first-degree burglary and other charges connected with their alleged forced entry into a residence in the 1200 block of Northeast 65th Street in Vancouver, where they mistakenly thought a fugitive was hiding.

Investigators said that the men violated the law because they didn’t follow protocol. For instance, they didn’t have reasonable cause to enter the home and failed to notify law enforcement of their plan to force entry, according to the investigators. They broke down the door and then held three individuals inside the house at gunpoint, handcuffed them together and placed them on their knees, Gasperino said. The victims had no idea who the bond recovery agents were or why they had broken into the house, he said.

Jones, who is a licensed bail bond agent, said she wasn’t on duty that night but had been having dinner with Stomps when Smith called to tell Stomps he thought he had located a fugitive they were seeking.

Jones’ attorney, Ed Dunkerly, said he didn’t think a jury would have found his client guilty of burglary. However, she said she was unwilling to take the risk of a trial.

She said she takes care of her 2-year-old son and Stomps’ two children, and she is pregnant.

“I can’t take any kind of chance with my kids’ lives,” she said.

Jones never entered the residence and was charged with burglary based on the legal concept of accomplice liability, Gasperino said. The legal concept allows accomplices to be convicted and punished for crimes they didn’t physically commit because they helped or enabled the perpetrator.

In Jones’ case, she handed a tool to her co-defendants, which was used to break into the residence.

“There never was intent to commit a burglary,” Jones said.

Jones said she and Stomps went into the bail bond profession to try to make a positive difference in their community.

“Now, we’re being treated like criminals,” she said.