Trial involving bond kickback scheme delayed in Raleigh
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- The trial of a man accused in a bail bond fraud scheme that reportedly cost the Wake County Public School System more than $1 million is on hold.
Kenneth Golder is accused, along with two bondsmen, of bribing a now fired Wake County court clerk to manipulate records so the three wouldn't have to pay forfeited bonds.
The I-Team broke this story last year.
Monday, Golder's lead attorney sent word more than an hour after court was scheduled to start that he is having medical issues involving his eyesight. That word came through Golder's co-counsel.
However, Superior Court Judge Henry Hight said he wanted to hear directly from the attorney Amos Link.
"Mr. Link has not filed anything with this court. His presence is required. I will give him till two o'clock to be here,"? the judge said Monday morning.
After lunch, Link was in court and asked to discuss the matter privately with the judge and the prosecutor.
The prosecutor had objected to any delay in the trial saying it had been delayed before and it had been more than a year-and-a-half since Golder and the others were indicted in connection with the alleged fraud.
A clerk and a bondsman have already plead guilty. Charges are still pending against another clerk and a bondsman.
Most times when someone is arrested they must post a bond to get out of jail. They can come up with the full amount themselves or pay a bondsman a percentage of the bail to get the bondsman to put up the full amount.
The defendant pays a non-refundable fee to the bondsman, but if they fail to show up for court the bondsman must pay the full bond to the court system. That money goes by law to the local public school system.
In this case, investigators say the Wake County Public Schools System didn't get more than $1 million because of the fraud.
School officials have vowed to fight to in civil court to get that money back and possibly fines and interest as well.
But the first criminal case scheduled to go to trial is now delayed until at least July 13.
After the closed door meeting, Judge Hight announced that if the lead attorney Amos Link wasn't medically able to try the case by then his co-counsel Alvin Hudson would step in.
But Hudson demurred saying he couldn't promise he could be fully prepared by then.
"I will certainly make every effort to do, be so ready," he told the judge.
Hight responded by saying, "Make it happen."
