Lawmakers call for reform to cash bail system

Leo Acosta recently was arrested and spend some time in custody, “it’s a big mix up, but, it’s a super big mix up I’m on bail,” he says.

His girlfriend helped to put up the money to bail him out. He says thanks to her and the help of Kirt Moore, he’s now free.

“I went into custody and they wanted to transport me to the Santa Barbara County Jail and somehow, someway my man talked the bailiff to hold up the transport and he was there like that,” he says.

Moore has been working as a bail bondsman for more than 30 years. He owns Lompoc Bail Bonds. He says he takes multiple forms of payment not just cash.

Currently under the state law, when a person is arrested bail is set depending on how severe the alleged crime is as well as a county fee schedule.

Before an offender can be released they must post the entire amount upfront or pay a 10% fee to a bond company. Some lawmakers say the state’s current cash bail system needs reform.

“Bail works when you allow bail to do its process,” says Moore.

Lawmakers say more than 60% of people who get arrested can’t afford to post bail, keeping them in jail for long periods of time. In some cases they say it forces people to lose things like their jobs and their homes.

“Because of the economy the way it is before it crashed and things everyone was able to make bail, it was a reasonable bail,” says Moore.

Acosta says he’s happy to be free and will now work with his family to pay back his bail.

“It’s a little tough Christmas is around the corner, Black Friday just passed, it’s going to be tough on me, my girlfriend, the kids but we gotta do what we gotta do,” he says.