Bail Bondsman, Las Vegas Trip Cause Stir

A golf trip to Las Vegas, bail bondsman bought and paid for, appears to be just the tip of the iceberg for potential conflicts of interest in the Muskegon area. Thomas DePung, a Muskegon bail bondsman, bought golf trips to Las Vegas for two assistant prosecutors from the Musekegeon county area.

Kathryn Norton, who was an entry level Assistant Prosecutor and Marc E. Curtis, who had a 9 year tenure, were fired after being on paid suspension for their acceptance of the trips. While no criminal acts were alleged, the severity of their apparent misjudgement was enough for the pair to be terminated for accepting gifts from the bail bondsman.

Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague said that "despite no evidence of any influence on the assistants' jobs," their actions were "an incredible lapse of judgment and have created an unacceptable appearance of impropriety."

On the tail of the scandal involving the two assistant prosecutors, another potential conflict of interest between Tommy Depung and the Muskegon County Sheriff's office. Tommy DePung was linked with a service that provided flat screen TV's in Muskegon County Jail's booking and visiting areas, along with numerous additional county jails in across the state of Michigan. These flat screen televisions show DePung's On the Run Network TV, which provided and installed the TVs.

The connection between DePung, owner of Bad Boys Bail Bonds, and Muskegon County doesn’t involve county money going to DePung. The agreement between the Muskegon County corporate counsel’s office and the bail bondsman was signed by both Sheriff Dean Roesler and DePung.

The content being shown on the "On the Run Network" is essentially a rollign slide show that allows bail bondsmen and lawyers to advertise their services to the inmates incarcertaed in participating facilities. These advertisements are purchased from DePung's company.

The agreement does not include any money being paid to DePung's company for rent or services rendered. In addition, DePung's group installed and services the equipment for free.

However, the additional, and seemingly cozy, tie between DePung and the Sheriff's office calls into question possible conflicts of interest. Why does Depung have the ability to craft these deals? Do these ancillary agreements cause and conflicts of interest with the Sheriff's office and their dealings with DePung's Bad Boys Bail Bonds. As more information surfaces about Mr. dePung's activities, surely this will lead to more questions than answers.