Fayetteville bail bondsman accused of using inmate to drum up business from inside jail [The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.]

June 28--A bail bondsman is accused of collaborating with an inmate in the Cumberland County Detention Center to drum up business in violation of state regulations, the Department of Insurance said Wednesday.

Brunhilde B. Ross, 53, a surety bail bondsman who lives on the 100 block of North Reilly Road, is charged with two counts of aiding and abetting an unlicensed bail bondsman and one count of aiding and abetting the solicitation of bail bonds, a news release said.

She is accused of collaborating with inmate Rainey Hope Crosby, 36, of the 500 block of South Eastern Boulevard, said Kerry Hall, a Department of Insurance spokeswoman.

Crosby was incarcerated at the county jail between April 4 and May 2, Hall said. While there, Crosby gathered names, criminal charges and bail amounts of the other inmates and passed the information to Ross, authorities say. Jailers tipped off Department of Insurance investigators.

Crosby is charged with acting as a bail bondsman without a license and solicitation of bail bonds, Hall said.

Crosby and Ross were arrested Monday, and bail for each was set at $2,000, Hall said.

It was during that investigation that insurance authorities learned that Harold Orlando Hill, 41, of the 5700 block of Meharry Drive, acted as a bondsman April 16 when he helped Ross try to apprehend a defendant on a bond forfeiture, Hall said.

Hill is charged with acting as a bail bondsman without a license, Hall said. He was arrested Monday and bail was set at $1,000.

Staff writer Nancy McCleary can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3568.

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