MacKenzie Elmer, melmer@dmreg.com

In June 2016, Cedar Rapids police responded to a 911 call reporting a kidnapping on the Kaplan University campus.

Witnesses told police that two assailants armed with shotguns had attacked a man, loaded him into a silver Volkswagen and driven away.

The windshield of a student's car was broken in the scuffle. The campus was placed on lockdown.

The assailants turned out to be Lord Stephen Alexander Range, 33, a bail bondsman from Cedar Rapids, and an associate, who were apprehending a bail jumper.

The pair was stopped by police hours later, after they'd dropped their subject at the Linn County Jail. A 12-gauge shotgun loaded with rubber buckshot and a .45-caliber handgun loaded with bullets were found inside the vehicle.

Police arrested Range's associate, a convicted felon who was the subject of active warrants out of Buchanan County. But Range, who had an expired permit to carry a weapon, was not arrested, and the incident did not affect his state-approved authority to issue bail bonds and pursue those who fail to pay.

From high-speed chases to reports of assaults, bail bond agents have made headlines across Iowa for controversial tactics, prompting even those within the industry to question how the state licenses and regulates them.

A Des Moines Register review of 192 Iowa surety bond license holders revealed that nearly a quarter had at least one criminal charge or conviction in their past, ranging from minor offenses including public intoxication and criminal mischief to more serious crimes such as assault and drug distribution.

“It was fascinating to me how many bail bondsmen I have found that are convicted felons. It’s absolutely extraordinary,” said Jeffrey “Kip” Fennelly, a former Warren County sheriff’s deputy who now works as a bail bond agent. He owns Custom Solution Investigations, based in Indianola, and is an assistant wrestling coach at Simpson College. “(They’re) continuing to hold onto their license and have the keys to the people in jail that they’ve been in jail with.”

Bondsman vs. bounty hunter

The issue, according to some involved in the industry, is whether state lawmakers ever intended for bonding agents to be the people who track down sometimes dangerous fugitives.

In Iowa, bonding agents are licensed by the Iowa Insurance Division, which also licenses the state's insurance agents, financial advisers and funeral services agents.

There are few requirements to get a license. An applicant must be at least 18 years old, take an exam, pay a $50 fee and pass the same background check required of the 116,000 other licensed insurance producers in the state.

State law lists 18 reasons the division may deny, suspend or revoke a license. Most involve violations of insurance laws and other financial crimes like forgery, as well as failure to pay college loans or child support. A felony conviction precludes most applicants, but the insurance commissioner has discretion to grant a license to applicants with a felony record.

Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen admits that some applicants who should be disqualified are getting through the system, and license holders who are charged with crimes are not reporting their offenses to the division as required.

“There may be people on the rolls that, if that application were to come to me, I wouldn’t give them the license,” he said.

Not all of the state's surety bond license holders are involved in the bail bonds industry. Other types of businesses use bonds, such as a construction company that gets a license to assure a financial lender on a project.

According to the insurance division, it has no way to determine how many of its license holders are issuing surety bonds to bail clients out of jail.

Those who do typically require that clients put down 10 percent of their total bail amount. If the client shows up for court, the bond is exonerated and the bondsman keeps the 10 percent as a fee. But, if the client doesn’t show, the court holds the bondsman responsible for the total bail amount.

When someone skips out on court, a bail bondsman has two options: Pay the court or track down the client and drag him or her back to jail.

“That bond has to be paid by somebody," said James “Texas Jim” Hendrickson of 1 Bail Bonds in Winterset. “It’s in your best interest as a bondsman to get the money back.”

But Iowa has a second type of license — for bounty hunters — to govern individuals who apprehend wanted fugitives and bail jumpers for reward money.

The Department of Public Safety issues bounty hunter licenses through a more stringent licensing process. Applicants must submit fingerprints that the department uses to conduct a national criminal history check. Anyone with a felony or aggravated misdemeanor conviction is denied a license.

Iowa has only 30 licensed bounty hunters.

“If you have a person who is making a living out of chasing people down, you would want to ensure this is a person that has not had fairly serious criminal convictions or convictions of moral character,” said Ross Loder, chief the Department of Public Safety’s Program Services Bureau.

But that’s not always the case in Iowa because so many bail bondsmen are doing the hunting. And the insurance division does not run the same national background check as the Department of Public Safety.

The insurance division does not have the authority under Iowa law to fingerprint applicants for background checks. The insurance industry has fought attempts to change the law.

“Fingerprinting and criminal background checks would actually be a benefit across our regulatory responsibility,” Ommen said.

Bonding agents must reapply for licenses every three years. According to the insurance division, criminal convictions typically come to its attention when applicants self-report them or when they are reported by a third party, such as an insurance company that fires an agent.

“Even improving (reapplication) from three years to two years would increase the likelihood that we’re going to move those people off of our rolls more quickly,” Ommen said.