Bondsman rescinds Casey Anthony's bail

Check charges put Casey Anthony back in jail
Sarah Lundy, Amy L. Edwards and Helen Eckinger

Sentinel Staff Writers
August 30, 2008

Hours before she was to see a judge this morning on new charges, the earlier bail keeping Casey Anthony -- mother of missing 3-year-old Caylee Marie -- out of jail was rescinded early Saturday by the Clearwater bondsman who helped secure her freedom last week.

This afternoon, Anthony appeared before Judge Mike Miller at the Orange County Jail on new charges stemming from $746.87 in checks a friend accused her of stealing in July. During the hearing, which lasted for little more than a minute, Anthony looked impassively at Miller as he informed her of her rights and set her bail on the latest charges at $3,000.

To get out of jail now, Anthony would have to post $503,200 in bail. Investigators took her back into custody Friday night as people gathered outside her home and jeered, calling her a murderer and baby killer.

Al Estes Bail Bond Agency of Clearwater endorsed, or turned in, the bail bond on the original charges. Anthony again is being held on those original counts as well. Officials were expected to retrieve the ankle-monitoring system from her parents' home, pretty much ruling out any immediate release.

Friday, the 22-year-old mother showed little emotion as she walked out of her parents' east Orange County home with her wrists handcuffed behind her back and was placed in the front seat of an unmarked patrol car. Anthony, who was ironically wearing a T-shirt that read, "Have you seen me?" with Caylee's picture on the front, was taken to the sheriff's headquarters before being transported to the Orange County Jail. She had not been booked by early today.

Casey Anthony's attorney, José Baez, said law enforcement is more interested in making his client look bad than finding the missing girl. Speaking outside the Anthony house late Friday night, Baez said sheriff's detectives "decided to make a spectacle of this event.""They chose this moment to grandstand and to utilize their power to go ahead and make an arrest on something that they knew two months ago," he said as Cindy Anthony, the child's grandmother, stood by his side. Baez pointed out that homicide, not economic-crimes detectives, arrested Anthony. The attorney said he was aware Anthony was possibly going to be arrested Friday night. He said he told detectives via fax he would surrender her. But that didn't happen.

"When they knew a lot of people were going to be here, a lot of cameras were going to be here, and they decide to put on a little show on minor economic crimes," he said. "They're more interested in making her look bad . . . instead of finding Caylee. "Many in the crowd clapped at seeing Anthony taken away by authorities about 8:30 p.m. "I'm happy that they finally took her," said Theresa Rider, 71, of Orlando who went to the house because she wanted to express her opinion to the Anthony family.

Like Rider, many in the crowd showed up at Anthony's Hopespring Drive home out of frustration that Casey Anthony was free. She was released last week after a bounty hunter from California helped post her $500,200 bail. Several came with signs that read, "Rot in Jail," and "Who is the bigger liar? Cindy Anthony or Killer Casey? May God have mercy on you."

Earlier in the evening, Cindy Anthony came outside to talk to a woman who was chanting, "Casey Anthony is a murderer!" She invited the woman who identified herself as Kittie Gonzalez to come inside to sit and talk, but Gonzalez refused.Gonzalez asked Cindy Anthony whether she asked her daughter where Caylee is located. "Yes, and she doesn't know," Cindy Anthony replied. "She deserves to go to jail," Ashley Griffin, 23, of Christmas said, standing on the sidewalk in front of the Anthony house with a sign.

Those milling about Hopespring Drive watched as more than a half-dozen patrol cars pulled up shortly before 8:30 p.m. The lead detective -- Yuri Melich -- went inside with others. They emerged less than 10 minutes later with Anthony. The allegations of stealing checks were first mentioned when Anthony was arrested July 16 on charges of child neglect and filing a false statement to law enforcement. Her friend, Amy Huizenga, 24, filed the complaint with Orlando police after she found checks missing from her car, which she had lent to Anthony. Detectives say Anthony stole checks and cashed five of them -- three for purchases at Target, one for groceries at Winn-Dixie and one for $250 in cash.

She was being held Friday night on charges of uttering a forged instrument, fraudulent use of personal information and petty theft. Bail was set at $3,000. Orange County sheriff's Capt. Angelo Nieves said there is no significance to the timing of the fraud charges. Detectives simply finished investigating the case.

The toddler was last seen in mid-June and was reported missing to authorities July 15. This week, air-sample tests from Casey Anthony's car showed that the trunk once held a decomposing human body. DNA samples were taken and sent to FBI forensics labs. The results have not been made public. Nieves would not say Friday night whether the evidence in the trunk had been linked to Caylee.

This capped a day that started out with Casey Anthony receiving good news. The bounty hunter who helped secure her release decided he would not withdraw her bond, which he considered the day before. And members of a Texas-based group began to organize a search for Caylee. Volunteers are expected to convene today near the Anthony home in the Lee Vista area at 8 a.m. to begin searching for Caylee, said Mandy Albritton, search director of Texas EquuSearch, an organization that looks for missing people.

The search command center is located in the parking lot behind the Holiday Inn Select, 5750 T.G. Lee Blvd., near Orlando International Airport.