Posted on 06/26/2002 8:41:25 AM PDT by CFW
Convicted forger Andrea Scott is thumbing her nose at the crowded court system that released her to the streets.
She has written taunting letters to the judge and the woman whose identity she is accused of stealing in order to run up more than $20,000 in credit card debt.
"You must be required to take a stupidity test to be a cop or judge in Indy!" she wrote in a four-page letter to the court.
Scott skipped her pretrial hearing Tuesday and made it clear in her letter that she's not planning to show up for her trial Thursday.
"I will already be established in another city by the time you call court to order," she wrote.
Scott is one of the 2,079 criminal defendants freed since September in an ongoing effort to keep crowding in check at the Marion County Jail and Lockup. She's a fugitive now, and Judge Cale Bradford issued an arrest warrant Tuesday but declined to comment on the case.
Many, including Scott's alleged victim, say the county needs more jail space.
"I think the murderers should stay there, but I think people like Andrea Scott should stay there, too," said Aggie Lavin, who has spent the last seven months repairing her damaged credit.
"I think if they don't have the accommodations, then they have to make the accommodations or quicken the trials up or something and get these people moved out quicker, but not on the streets."
This is not the first time Scott has faced these kinds of charges. She was convicted of forgery on Aug. 8 and served 232 days in jail.
"Unbelievable," Judge Robert Altice said after hearing of Scott's release.
Scott was on probation in Altice's court. Altice had set her bond at $250,000; Bradford set another bond at $100,000, but Scott was set free without having to pay any bond.
"She's flouting the whole system in everybody's face," Altice said. "I assume if I set a bond at $250,000, they are not going to get out. Obviously, I'm wrong."
Judge William Young, who authorized Scott's release on May 23, was on vacation Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.
But Presiding Judge Cynthia Ayers said Scott's release was not a mistake.
Young followed the county's release guidelines, which call for nonviolent inmates to be freed when space is running out, Ayers said. She said it is inevitable that some of the hundreds of freed inmates are going to commit new crimes or flee the county.
The county has been under a federal judge's order to keep a lid on the jail population since 1975. The county has room for about 2,100 inmates who are newly arrested, awaiting trial or already sentenced.
In April, U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker found the county in contempt for the conditions at the lockup, the area in the City-County Building where the newly arrested are detained until they have an initial court hearing.
Barker warned county officials to expect heavy fines for each day the lockup's population exceeded the cap of 297 inmates and for each inmate who was held in the facility longer than four days.
Officials continue to seek a permanent solution to the overcrowding, including a proposed processing center to streamline inmate handling. That plan has yet to be completely funded.
"The problem is we don't have the space," Ayers said. "You can't expect us to keep people in cells that don't exist."
Ayers said inmates will continue to be released until the county gets more jail beds. And some of them are accused of much worse than forgery.
In October, Jermaine Cole was charged with murder after he was released after being jailed on a series of charges, including possession of cocaine with a firearm. Police say Cole killed 20-year-old Kevin Miller.
More scrutiny has been paid to each case since Cole was released. Marion County Sheriff Jack Cottey said he is doing all he can to keep the county from getting fined by the federal court.
"If this was a violent crime where somebody was hurt, I'd be very upset over it," Cottey said. "Unfortunately, the Marion County Jail has been operating under a federal court order."
Scott is accused of stealing Lavin's wallet last September and using her driver's license and Social Security card to get credit at stores including Zales, Wal-Mart and J.C. Penney.
Lavin, 45, said she welcomed Scott into her home and treated her like a friend.
Scott, 35, was arrested March 26 on felony charges of forgery, theft and identity deception.
She was on probation for a prior forgery conviction, and the violation meant she could face an automatic 15 months in prison on top of her sentence in the new case.
She was being held in jail with two bonds totaling $350,000, but a judge released her on May 23, along with 50 other inmates.
Lavin only learned of the release after she received a letter from Scott last week.
"I have left town to find more victims as helpful as you!" Scott wrote to Lavin. "Enjoy my bills."
Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman said the lack of jail beds means lower-level, nonviolent criminals are dodging the consequences of their crimes.
"I don't accept everything she says in her letter, but I do buy the fact that criminals like her are laughing at the system," Newman said. "That situation is just intolerable."
Newman said Scott can run, but she will not be able to hide for long.
"I am confident in one respect that I will find Andrea Scott under whatever rock she is hiding," Newman said. "She will learn the meaning of the old saying, 'He who laughs last, laughs best.' "
And "bounty hunters," who have a financial incentive ( a "payday" of at least $35,000 and likely more in this case), have a much better track record than state and local police (and even the Feds of some agencies) for finding and returning bail jumpers -- all at no cost to the taxpayer and with fewer incidents of excessive force and other forms of abuse.....
There is no bailbondsman. That is the whole point of this article. She was released even though she had posted no bond.
Nope. Only little old ladies believe that. Are you a little old lady?
What ever happened to "give me liberty or give me death"? Do you seriously think the founders of this country cared more for security than freedom?
Therein lies the problem. Releasing someone -- being held in lieu of bond after being adjudged as a flight risk -- as part of a blanket housecleaning is the fault of the judge. So the puke was right, at least with respect to the dumb-ass judge. If she were out on bail via a surety bond from a bondsman, she would be "hunter-bait" right now.....
Except prohibition didn't succeed. Or have you
been out of town?
LOL....beauty!
Quite right, but we as a nation also must be willing to fund enough new prisons and law enforcement to lock up all the druggies and throw away the key. We get the government we deserve, and we need to fight the aforementioned scourge at the grassroots level. Only then can we say we are really safe from this <shudder> plant. Now who can protect me from the other objects which frighten me?
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