Want to help catch a criminal on the lam? Try Slammerpics.com [Star-News, Wilmington, N.C.]

July 16--Daniel McPeck almost got away with jumping bail on a misdemeanor breaking and entering charge in Oak Island.

What did him in, though, was an annoyed mom and a new website.

Mary Weaver of Bust 'Em Out Bail Bonds in Wilmington received a call from a New Hampshire mother in late June. The mom said her son had bought drugs from McPeck.

"I said, 'How'd you know I was looking for him?'" Weaver said, "And (the mother) said, 'Because I Googled his name and it linked me into Slammerpics.com.'"

Weaver called law enforcement in New Hampshire, who immediately started hunting for McPeck. He was arrested in New York two days later and charged with criminal possession of a weapon.

McPeck is awaiting extradition to New Hampshire.

Slammerpics is a website started by a local bondsman in late February that allows bondsmen and the public to see who has skipped out on repaying their bond. The site features photos of the offenders, as well as their birth dates, last known locations, brief descriptions and the logos and contact information for their bondsmen.

Chad Taylor, who owns Off the Hook Bail Bonds in Wilmington, founded the website.

"(Bondsmen) all have people we're looking for when they skip out," Taylor said. "... People love to look at the mugshots. I equate it to a car wreck. It's a horrible thing, but people slow down for a look. And these are human car wrecks."

Linda Rawley, a Wilmington Police Department spokeswoman, said law enforcement can benefit from any site with images of people on the lam because members of the public are then more likely to recognize them.

"They do help us find and locate these individuals and take them off the street," she said, adding that police support the efforts of bondsmen as long as they are "orderly and within the letter of the law."

To catch one runaway, Taylor pulled the website up on his phone and showed it to neighbors next door to where he suspected the fugitive had just moved.

The neighbors immediately recognized the woman in the photograph and called him the next day to collect the $200 reward.

In North Carolina, a bondsman can charge a criminal 15 percent of the bond, but law enforcement doesn't cash the checks unless the criminal fails to appear in court. At that point, the bond company has 150 days to catch the person.

Rewards on Slammerpics have gone as high as $3,000, as the bondsmen try to get their initial expense back.

With the website, Taylor is hoping he and the other bondsmen in the region will be able to knock on fewer doors in the future.

"One of the oldest tricks was to talk to neighbors and offer them a little reward," he said, "but now someone can see it from their phone or from their home or wherever."

Adam Wagner: 343-2096

On Twitter: @adamwagner1990

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