The Color of Crime

As I wrote shortly after arriving here one month ago, my hotel is in what I like to call the "Bail Bonds District" of Houston, owing to the many businesses of that type around my lodgings. Upon further inspection, it really turns out to be the "Crime & Justice District."

Not only is the Harris County Courthouse nearby, so is the family law center, the civil court, the juvenile justice center, a federal jail and four local jails.

So it occured to me that, as I walk six blocks each morning to watch the highest-profile white-collar crime trial of this young century, I might meander a couple of blocks the other way -- literally and figuratively -- and talk to someone who makes their living in blue-collar crime, just for a different perspective.

Which led me to Bryan Johnson and his business, H Town Bail Bonds.

H Town occupies a small, tidy building on a corner of a parking lot in the middle of all of this justice being dispensed. It's one of four, actually, here in the Lone Star state. Johnson got into the biz part-time in college and "one thing led to another ..." as it always does. Now, at 28, it's a job where he can be his own boss and carve out time to hunt and catch the occasional Astros game. And there's no shortage of clients. While I waited in his office, one of Johnson's employees was advising a client on the phone: "You've gotta pay the forfeiture because you jumped bail already."

Johnson may not yet be 30, but he's seen enough to have developed a hard-bitten, cynical side. As a businessman, perhaps as a Houstonian, Johnson said he's skeptical that anything useful -- corporate reform, for instance -- will come out of the Enron trial, even if Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling are convicted.

"We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars," he said. "People will kill for that. People kill each other for a lot less" in his line of work.

Johnson sees cons and family and friends of cons. He wants you to know that he has some understanding for Lay and Skilling, even considers them "good men." And he knows what it's like to have an Andrew S. Fastow working for him -- he's had employees steal from the H Town register and it took him weeks, sometimes months, to figure it out.

At the same time, he finds it hard to believe that Lay and Skilling "didn't have any idea the numbers were being fudged." Lay's bail, by the way, was set at $500,000 and Skilling's at $5 million when the two turned themselves in in 2004. Considered a flight risk, Skilling had his passport revoked.

Even though the customers that pass through Johnson's office have to post lesser bail amounts, "A criminal is a criminal," he said. "It doesn't matter whether you're fabricating to line your pocket with $100 million or $100. Criminals like hustling people, getting over on people."

During his testimony, Skilling repeatedly testified that his rush came from building Enron into a powerhouse. At one point, discussing his short-lived go as chief executive, he admitted that maybe he wasn't the best guy to run things. He was the go-go guy, the man with the vig. A man on the come.

"I have a feeling that if you produce a good and powerful corporation, it's a rush," he said. "Maybe it doesn't matter to you if you cross the line a little."

Johnson has built a buiness, too, a licensed and certified chain of bond shops recommended by the county courts. "Building a business is a constant battle, all uphill," he said. "I tell my people, 'We need to do more bonds.' Family members walk into my office and want to get little Johnny out of jail, the money's got to be good, we've got to stay on top of it."

When you keep putting pressure on yourself to grow, grow, grow, for some people, "the gray area gets bigger," he said.

Such a person "is definitely not geared to be a CEO," Johnson said.

It's getting to be evening as I leave, but H Town won't close. It's open 24 hours. Because when your life gets itself screwed up seven ways to Sunday, you still have to make bail. Whether you're a multimillionaire chief executive or a two-bit grifter.

By Frank Ahrens |  May 3, 2006; 11:05 AM ET  | Category:  Houstoniana
Previous: Lay, Day 5.25: That's a Wrap | Next: Ahrens, Day 30: That's a Wrap

Posted by: brian | May 3, 2006 12:37 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.