Murder suspect's ankle bracelet is repossessed and removed for unpaid fees
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A Houston murder suspect was unmonitored for about two weeks after the company that provided his GPS ankle monitor repossessed the device for unpaid fees.
The suspect, Clint Walker, 27, owed $305 in back fees when the company, Guarding Public Safety, reclaimed the ankle monitor, officials said. He was rearrested and jailed last week. The Texas Tribune, KHOU and ABC13 have coverage.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg wrote to county officials about Walker’s case. She complained about a “troubling loophole” that allowed suspects to evade supervision by failing to pay fees.
But the director of the Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department, Teresa May, told local publications there was no loophole and the vendor had been fired for violating its memorandum of understanding with the county.
May said monitor companies are required to inform the county of a failure to pay, and they are barred from removing a monitor without authorization. Defendants who stop paying can be put in jail for violating conditions of release, she said.
“In over 20 years of doing this, I’ve never seen a vendor do this kind of violation,” May told the Texas Tribune.
Walker had been released from jail on a $100,000 surety bond in June after he was charged in the shooting death of a security guard during an attempted robbery. The monitor was a condition of release.
Ogg said the monitor was removed Sept. 19. A judge granted a motion to revoke bond Sept. 23, the same day the motion was filed, according to a statement provided by the Harris County Administrative Office of the District Courts to KHOU. The court hearing had been delayed a few days because of Hurricane Imelda, according to the Texas Tribune.
The court statement said Walker was taken into custody Oct. 2.
Guarding Public Safety released this statement to ABC13: “My company sent several violations on Clint Walker to the Harris County Pretrial Supervision Department, including his failure to charge his device as instructed resulting in no location and no communication. His device went dead several times and we had no location and no communication with this defendant. Immediate notification was sent upon removal of his device.”
Hat tip to @eramshaw.
