Costa Mesa Bail Bonds
If you’ve learned that someone you care for has been arrested by a member of the Costa Mesa Police Department you’ll want to contact a local bondsman right away. Working with a local bail bonds company will not only ensure your loved one will get out of jail fast, you’ll have the peace of mind that comes with knowing the agency you’ve chosen knows the ins and outs of the local law enforcement system.
Each jail has their own unique process when it comes to accepting bail bonds, and it’s best to choose an agent who understands the requirements and specifications of the Costa Mesa Jail.
For more information on how to post ASAP bail bonds in Costa Mesa, call Bail Bond Professionals now to speak with a licensed agent you can trust.
What happens when someone you love gets arrested by the Costa Mesa PD?
When someone is arrested and charged with a crime in Costa Mesta the arresting officer will place them in handcuffs and inform them of their Miranda rights. Notably, the defendant will be informed they have the right to remain silent, that they have the right to speak with an attorney, and that if they cannot afford a lawyer, that one will be provided to them.
From there, the defendant will be placed into the back of the squad car and transported to the Costa Mesa Jail.
When the defendant arrives at the jail they will be placed into a holding cell until the jailer is ready to start booking them into the system. If the jail is busy, they may need to wait for an hour or more before this process starts.
At the time of booking, the jailer will ask them several questions, including their full name, address, date of birth, social security number, and they’ll ask what type of work they do. The defendant will also be photographed and fingerprinted. Although many people think that defendants can have their bail bonds posted as soon as this step is done, that is simply not the case.
All defendants must undergo a national background check before they can bond out of jail. This is done by sending their fingerprints to the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. The DOJ receives thousands of sets of prints every hour from jails across the U.S., and it often takes between 4-6 hours for them to complete each background check.
Defendants who do not have any outstanding warrants or holds, such as a probation hold or a parole hold, will be permitted to post bail bonds, and their bail will be set based on the crime they’ve been charged with. For example, a defendant who was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence may have their bail set at $25,000. On the other hand, if the defendant has outstanding warrants, they’ll need to post a bond for the crime they’ve been arrested for and a bond for each outstanding warrant. If a defendant has been arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence, and they have a warrant for $15,000 and a second warrant for $20,000, their total bail will be set at $60,000. They’ll also need to post three separate bail bonds if they want to be released from custody.
Release times at this jail are shorter than at the larger county jails and in most cases, defendants are released within 1-2 hours after their bail bonds are posted.
Risks of not posting fast bail bonds in Costa Mesa
The Costa Mesa Police Department Jail was not designed to hold defendants for an extended period of time. Defendants who do not bond out before their first court date will not be sent back to Costa Mesa, but instead, they’ll be sent to the Orange County Main Jail to be assigned to long-term housing.
Also, worth mentioning, is that if the Costa Mesa Jail starts to get busy, defendants could be transferred to the OCJ before their first court date. In some cases, they may be transferred within hours of being arrested.
This can be problematic for several reasons.
First, if you’re wanting to post bail bonds fast, you’ll need to contact a bondsman as soon as you know the defendant is arrested. Posting bail bonds in Costa Mesa should be your absolute priority. If the bail bonds process is delayed and the defendant is transferred to the county facility, your loved one could spend up to an additional 24-hours in custody.
When someone is transferred to the Orange County Jail, the transfer itself can take several hours. This is because in some instances, transfer buses stop at several local jails before they depart for their final destination. Second, when inmates arrive at the OCJ, they’ll be placed into a new holding cell where they’ll be held until the jailers are ready to start booking them. If the jail is very busy (or the jail is short staffed), defendants may wait several hours before their name is called.
Once a defendant is booked, they’ll need to undergo another national background check.
The bail bonds process at the OCJ is more complex than it is at the smaller jails, and bail bonds agents must follow a strict protocol if they want their bonds to be accepted. When a bond is accepted, it often takes between 5-7 hours for defendants to be released from custody.
Do I qualify for Costa Mesa Bail Bonds?
The process of getting approved for bail bonds in Costa Mesa largely depends on the size of the bond that you need. If the defendant’s bail has been set at $10,000, the approval process will be far different from the approval process for a $500,000 bail bond.
When you contact a bondsman they’ll start by asking you to provide some basic information about the defendant. They’ll want to know how old they are, where they were arrested, when they were arrested, and the crime they’ve been charged with. The bondsman may also want to know if you have any information about the circumstances surrounding their arrest and if you know how much their bail is.
If you don’t know what the defendant has been charged with and/or you’re not sure about their bail amount, that’s OK. The person you’re speaking with will be able to look that up for you.
From there, they’ll want to know how long the defendant has lived in the area, whether they’re employed and if yes, the type of work they do, if they rent or own their home, whether they have family that lives in the area, and if they have a prior history of arrest.
The bondsman will also ask you to provide similar information about yourself, and they’ll want to know how long you’ve known the defendant and what your relationship is to them. Are you a spouse, partner, relative, neighbor, or coworker?
The cost to post bail bonds in Costa Mesa will be 10% of the defendant’s total bail amount. If bail is set at less than $50,000, the defendant is a CA resident, you’ve known them for a long time, you’re confident they’ll go to court, and you can pay the bondsman’s fee up front in full, approval will be fast and easy. If you want a bail bonds payment plan, approval for the payment plan will be largely dependent on the size of the down payment you’re seeking and your ability to make the monthly payments.
Approval process for large bail bonds in Costa Mesa
If the defendant’s bail is set at more than $100,000, the approval process for Costa Mesa bail bonds will be slightly different, as you may be asked to post collateral to secure the bond. As a general rule of thumb, the amount of collateral you’ll need to post will need to be equal to (or slightly more than) the size of the bond. For example, if bail has been set at $500,000, you’ll need to post at least $500,000 in collateral.
The most common type of collateral our company uses is property collateral. Using this same example, if you decide to put up your house, your home will need to have at least $500,000 in equity to qualify.
Please note that our company does not accept pink slips to cars as collateral for large bail bonds. Again, the value of the collateral posted must be equal to (if not slightly higher than) the value of the bond.
Although the approval for bonds that require collateral is slightly more difficult, in most cases, we can get the approval for large bail bonds in a short amount of time. Once the bond is approved and payment arrangements have been agreed to, the bondsman will schedule a time to meet with you so you can sign the bail bonds paperwork, a deed of trust, and the bail bonds collateral paperwork.
Signs you should not post bail bonds in Costa Mesa
When you cosign for someone’s bail bonds, you’re not just agreeing to pay the bondsman's fee. You’re agreeing to take full legal responsibility that the defendant will go to court, as often as needed, to finish their case. In some instances, the defendant may only need to go to court once. On the other hand, if the case is complex, they may need to attend many court dates over the course of several months.
If the person who has been arrested is someone you just met, someone you don’t know very well, or someone you have not heard from in several years, you should not move forward with posting their bail bonds. Why? Because if a defendant doesn’t go to court (aka, they skip bail), the court will forfeit their bond. This means that their full bail amount will become due to the court and that a bench warrant will be issued for their immediate arrest.
If the bondsman is unable to get the defendant back into the system, the bail bonds company will need to pay the forfeiture to the court. If bail was set at $25,000, the bail bondsman will need to write a check for $25,000. Should that happen, the company will seek reimbursement from the person who cosigned for the defendant’s bail bonds.
Not only is the cosigner liable to reimburse the bondsman for the forfeiture, if the bondsman hired a fugitive recovery agent to help search for the defendant, the cosigner will be on the hook to reimburse those fees, as well. This can become especially tricky for the cosigner if collateral was posted. If collateral was not posted and the cosigner tries to evade payment, the bondsman can take them to court to seek a judgment against them.
Suffice to say, you should only cosign for bail bonds if you know the defendant well and you are confident they’ll go to court. If the defendant is someone you met earlier in the night at a party or at a bar, if they’re a relative you haven’t heard from in 10 years, or they’re someone you just met three weeks ago, do not cosign for the bail bonds. Instead, it’s best you suggest they contact a close friend or relative for assistance.
Online bail bonds in Costa Mesa
Many people assume that if they need to bail someone out of jail that they’ll need to grab their keys and head to the closest bail bonds office. Although that was generally true in years past, our company has streamlined the bail bonds process.
When you work with Bail Bond Professionals you can complete the bail bonds application from anywhere you have a WiFi connection. In the past, we’ve had clients cosign the bail bonds documents while at the grocery store, their kids’ soccer games, and even at the gym. Do you need to get someone out of jail at 2am? Not a problem. You can handle the bail bonds process from the comfort of your home. Or, did you just deplane your flight to the East Coast and you’ve learned that your adult child has been taken into custody? We can help you arrange their bail bonds while you’re waiting to claim your luggage.
When you opt for online bail bonds the process is as fast as it is simple. The agent you’re speaking with will go through the bail bonds application with you, line by line, while you’re on the phone. When you’re done, they’ll send the bail bonds paperwork to you as an e-sign document. You can sign that document using your finger on your handheld device or laptop computer. The bondsman can also help you make your payment over the phone. Our company accepts many forms of payment including debit cards and credit cards, including Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express. Once the documents are signed and payment arrangements have been made, an agent will be dispatched to the jail to post your loved one’s bail bonds.
When can bail bonds be posted?
The Costa Mesa Jail is open 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, 365-days a year. If you have a friend or loved one who has been booked into that facility, our company can help you post bail bonds at any time, day or night, weekends and holidays included.
Or, if you’ve learned the defendant has been transported to the Orange County Main Jail, we can also help you post bond 24-7-365.
When you talk with bail bonds agents, the most important thing to ask them relates to how fast they can send a bondsman to the jail. Just because someone answers their phone 24-hours a day, that’s not to say they’ll post bail bonds 24-hours a day. If your loved one has been arrested at 2am, you’ll want to make sure their bond is posted ASAP- as opposed to the next day during standard business hours. Our ability to post bail bonds at all of the Orange County Jails, at any time of day or night, is among the reasons we stand out from our competitors.
Have questions? Call Bail Bond Professionals now to get started
For more information on how bail works, how bail bonds payment plans work, or about the arrest and booking process at the Costa Mesa Jail, we can help. Our company has more than 4 decades of combined experience in helping get people out of jail fast. All of our agents hold a college degree, and each has a minimum of 10 years working in the industry.
Finding out that someone you care for has been arrested and booked in Costa Mesa can be one of the most unnerving things you’ll ever experience. Working with an experienced, compassionate bail bonds company can help relieve some of your stress. Remember- there’s a reason why we’re the #1 attorney-preferred bail bonds company in the region.
Regardless as to whether you need to post $10,000 or million dollar bail bonds, we can help. Call Bail Bond Professionals today at 800-389-2245 to speak with a licensed agent. Or, you can call us on our local number at 714-389-2245.
