Colorado Seizes $5 Million in Collateral from Bail Bond Agent

Colorado regulators said Tuesday they had seized about $5 million in loan documents and other collateral from a bail bond agent, saying some of it may have been improperly kept from the people who posted it.

The state Division of Insurance said agents took the records on July 12 from Amor Angel Portugal, also known as Amor Angel Trujillo, and from Heavenly Bail Bonds.

Portugal’s bail bond license was suspended in December after complaints from consumers about collateral they pledged to guarantee bail bonds, the division said in a press release.

Portugal had no listed phone number. The number for Heavenly Bail Bonds had been disconnected.

The statement said the division seized the collateral after learning it had been purchased by a company that lacked a required license. The division issued an emergency order blocking the sale.

Insurance regulators said they are working with police and
sheriff’s departments, the attorney general’s office and insurance
companies that underwrote some of the bail bonds to return the
collateral to its rightful owners.