A conversation with Stephen Owens

There’s “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” and then there’s Stephen Owens.

Owens, owner of Owens Bonding, is educated, articulate and risk-conscious in a business that has a reputation as dark and dangerous. He portrays his bail bond business, one of the biggest in Kansas, less about bounty hunting and more about insurance.

Owens is also a serial entrepreneur who has started or helped start a number of businesses, including Patriot Pawn & Firearms in Newton and McPherson, which he has since sold to a partner, and Page-Out, a smartphone app for volunteer firefighters. He recently purchased the statewide license for technology to monitor whether people who are on house arrest comply with the terms, including whether they have consumed alcohol.

Owens, 36, is married to Rose and they have three children. He has a bachelor’s degree from Bethel College, with majors in business administration and accounting. He started out as a full-time accountant in Wichita before turning his side business in bail bonding into his full-time work. He also has master’s degree in business administration from Southwestern College.

How did you get into bail bonding?

I started in the bonding business 14 or 15 years ago. I … had a college friend that I went hunting with in Oklahoma and his dad was a bondsman. So, I said, you know, here’s an opportunity to do something that is completely out of the norm that I could put some of my business education behind it for supplemental income. … And so that is what let me get … into the business, and what I realized as I got into it is that, not only was it intriguing, but there was a tremendous amount of room for growth in Kansas. I’m an insurance bondman and I represent AIA Surety out of California, and AIA is the largest underwriter of bail in the country and the world. They did not have a very large presence in Kansas. What I saw was that if I play my cards right and I work really hard at this, there is a tremendous amount of opportunity in Kansas to grow not only myself, but to grow into more of a management role in adding agents for the company. Over the course of 14 years, we have tried to really grow and that’s where we are, with 27 agents throughout the state of Kansas.

How does the bonding business work?

Let’s say somebody has a $10,000 bond for aggravated burglary. They could take $10,000 up to the jail, post it on their own and walk out. The reality is that most people don’t have that kind of money sitting around. So we as bondsman charge 10 percent and loan that defendant our $10,000. The 10 percent is gone, the equivalent of the cost of getting a bank loan. And then, our sole responsibility is to make sure they appear – or we pay the court.

How often have you had to pay the court?

Statistically, it’s very, very low … We have full-time fugitive-recovery agents. They’ve been everywhere from Washington to New York City to everywhere in-between apprehending defendants. Typically the failure to appear rate is in the 2 to 3 percent range. Of that 2 to 3 percent, the majority have just forgotten and need a phone call reminder. There are about 1 percent that are actively trying to elude us. Of that 1 percent, we pay on, maybe, 0.4 or 0.6 percent, something like that. So of the 100 percent of people we bond out, maybe 0.4 or 0.6 percent elude us.

Do you turn people down?

Absolutely. We turn plenty of people down. If it’s not a good underwriting risk, why would we bond them out? We are just putting our money in jeopardy … if I get a call from a gentleman who has been arrested for driving while suspended and he lives in California and is traveling to Florida and he’s got a $1,000 bond, it doesn’t make sense.

Got any interesting stories?

We joke that Dog the Bounty Hunter is certainly made for TV. With all of the years I’ve spent in this business, I could probably make only nine or 10 good TV episodes from the excitement. The majority of time we go to apprehend somebody, they may be trying to elude us, but once we catch up with them, they’re like “OK, let’s go.” That wouldn’t make good TV.

Ever had to draw your weapon?

Never. I’ve had to use my Taser, but never a firearm. … Me and my agents are concealed-carry holders. Sometimes a firearm is more provocative than is necessary, so we conceal it. Tasers on the other hand are the most effective tool of the 21st century, by far. Before that, what were your options? You had to get physical with them. But with a Taser … it’s instantaneous, effective and there’s no permanent damage. … It’s all about avoiding the altercation. If things are escalating, I would just as soon let that person go and catch them another day in a more laid-back situation.

So your guys are on the road a lot?

They are out on the road a lot. It just depends, knocking on doors, doing surveillance. We work very well with law enforcement and they, for the most part, respect what we do.

So where’s the first place you look?

The first place we go is to their house. If they’re there and they say “Holy cow, I just forgot,” you’re good. But if you knock on the door and the house is empty …

Or you hear the back door slam?

Well, our guy at the back door will generally make the arrest. Some of the tricks of the trade is making sure you have the exits covered, because that has happened. But really it’s just being professional. Walking over to the neighbors. “Hey, is John still living here? Do you know where he’s gone?” It’s a matter of just learning to ask the right questions and tracking people down.

What does it take to be a bounty hunter?

In the state of Kansas, there is no license. There is no qualification. As long you don’t have a felony, you can be a “bounty hunter,” unfortunately.

How do you get paid to be a bounty hunter?

You have to convince a bondsman such as myself to hire you. I probably get one or two calls or stop-bys a week from people who call themselves bounty hunters. Some have experience; most do not. It’s just an area that doesn’t take much to do, and so they just call themselves a bounty hunter and go to work.

So why do bail bondsmen have this reputation?

The TV programs don’t help. It’s great TV, but it’s not reality. If you get one or two bad apples, that puts a stain on the entire industry. And that’s incredibly frustrating for myself, the Kansas Bail Agents Association and the people who are trying to raise the bar on standards – just to have some bounty hunter, who calls himself a bounty hunter, who convinces somebody to give them a file go out and act like a complete idiot and wind up in the paper getting arrested himself for doing something he shouldn’t have done.

Is it a big problem?

It’s a big enough problem that two or three times a year somebody winds up in the paper for bounty hunting.

This story was originally published September 5, 2014 at 1:57 PM with the headline "A conversation with Stephen Owens."