ASHDOWN, Ark–An Ashdown man accused of giving a bail bondsman a fake $100 bill after she arranged for his release from the Little River County jail earlier this month is facing a felony charge of forgery.
Jason Roe Thompson, 45, allegedly handed a bondsman, Janet Fondren, with Bail Bond Financing Inc., $135 in folded-up cash after she got him out of the jail March 5, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Monday.
The bondsman reportedly told law enforcement that she did not look at the money until she got home and when she did, she realized the $100 bill she had been handed was fake and stamped with “media money.”
The bondsman immediately reported that she had been given a counterfeit bill. A Little River County sheriff’s deputy found Thompson in the driver’s seat of a car at a local convenience store and took him back to jail the same day, the affidavit said.
If Thompson had been giving the bondsman 10% of the bond amount – which is typical for surety bonds paid using the service of a bail bond company – Thompson’s actual bond amount would have been $1,000, an amount most commonly seen in misdemeanor cases.
When a person pays a bail bond in Arkansas, they are also charged additional fees of about $35 that go to state entities. The bondsman keeps the 10% paid by an arrestee as their fee in exchange for guaranteeing their appearance in court. In other words, it would not be unusual for a person with a $1,000 bond to secure their release for $135.
After he was charged with felony forgery, Thompson’s bond was set at $15,000.
Records show that Thompson used Fondren – the same bail bondsman he allegedly handed a bogus bill – to post the $15,000 bond set for him on the forgery charge, court records show.
Thompson appeared Tuesday for arraignment before Circuit Judge Bryan Chesshir and entered a not guilty plea to the forgery charge. Texarkana lawyer Derric McFarland was appointed to represent Thompson.
Judge Chesshir scheduled Thompson to return to court in June for a pretrial hearing.