Bounty hunters mistakenly target Phoenix police chief's house

It was a case of mistaken identity worthy of reality television. And it could have had deadly consequences.

Eleven bounty hunters looking for a fugitive Tuesday night mistakenly targeted the home of Phoenix police Chief Joseph Yahner while following a tip they received via social media, police said.

Two fugitive-recovery companies working in tandem kept watch for two hours before swarming the darkened house at about 10 p.m. NorthStar Fugitive Recovery owner Brent Farley, 43, is facing charges of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct.

The event, which a NorthStar employee said has been “all blown out of proportion,” was captured on a cellphone camera.

Listen to 911 call made from Yahner residence

“They were filming this like it was made for TV,” said Sgt. Trent Crump, a Phoenix police spokesman.

When police officers arrived, they found Farley’s employees and those of Delta One Tactical Recovery surrounding the home. One man banged on the door with an unholstered weapon and engaged in a verbal confrontation with the chief inside, police said. The bounty hunters’ vehicles were parked on the property, the headlights glaring as the man at the door shined his flashlight inside, Phoenix police said.

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Several outside the chief’s home were armed, and police said Wednesday that they were serving a search warrant for the weapons. Riding alongside the armed bounty hunters was an 11-year-old and an adult relative of one of the employees, police said.

The tip that sent the bounty hunters to Yahner’s home, according to a NorthStar employee, was from an Oklahoma number. The fugitive at the heart of their search remains wanted out of Oklahoma on drug charges.

In the video, a pickup truck is in the driveway of Yahner’s home, and several people are near the front door. Several times, someone yells, “Roderick, open the door,” while a voice from the house yells back. The door eventually opens and a man inside says, “Turn the light off” twice to the man outside holding a flashlight before the door shuts.

The exterior lights of the home then turn on, illuminating the three figures, two of whom appear to be wearing bulletproof vests. The door opens wide to a shirtless man exiting the house while holding something in his hands. That something was a baton, Crump said.

The video clip stops there. Crump said the rest will be logged as evidence in court but he described what happened next as a “heated confrontation.”

“After awakening him (Yahner) from a dead sleep, he comes out in protection mode,” Crump said. “And when he does come out and he challenges them, I think they quickly come to realize (the mistake), with the exception of one of them.”

Crump said Farley refused to leave the property and continued to give commands to Yahner until another bounty hunter pulled him aside.

Bounty hunters are often outfitted just like policemen, with bulletproof vests and weapons. And they are not hindered by rules that typically govern law enforcement, such as needing to go before a judge for a warrant or a subpoena.

MORE: How are AZ bounty hunters supposed to act?

John Burns, former president of the Arizona Bail Bondsmen Association, said Arizona is one of the few states that don’t require bail bondsmen or fugitive recovery agents to be trained or educated. Burns has been working to push a bill that would require both, he said.

Weak laws, he said, allow virtually anyone to be “John Wayne all day long, without any education or training.”

Which is what he thinks happened Tuesday. If the employees had done a title search on the home, they would have realized it was the police chief’s, he said.

Investigators are looking into the source of the unconfirmed tip as well as whether the companies committed any weapons violations.

Crump said the Phoenix Police Department works with “reputable recovery companies” each day.

“This isn’t indicative specifically of this profession,” Crump said. “This is a case in which these two companies did not do their due diligence. ... They hit the wrong house and the wrong person.”

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