Bail bonds company: Sutter land transfer was effort to defraud

A Yuba City man says he doesn't know about real estate transfers that led to a Sacramento bail bond company lawsuit.

Michael D.T. Oliver said in a Yuba County Superior Court filing this month that he didn't benefit by his father Rick David Oliver of Sutter transferring property and is unaware of any such real-estate transaction.

Sacramento-based Greg Padilla Bail Bonds contends in the suit that Rick Oliver, before he became a fugitive, transferred properties to family members to defraud the bond company of assets to collect after forfeiting a $50,000 bond when he failed to appear in court for his sentencing in August 2011.

Topo Padilla, a partner at the Sacramento bail bonds company, said he and others tracked Rick Oliver to Minden, Nev., in March 2012 where the FBI and Douglas County Sheriff's Department arrested him. He was sentenced to more than six years in prison after having sex with a 17-year-old that left her pregnant.

"When somebody misses court and we chase them, we incur expenses," Padilla said. "We had to come at them with a lawsuit."

"They're trying to be smarter than the average bear," he said of the property transfers. "But we've got them."

Padilla said the $15,900 sought to recover costs of the investigation is less than what Padilla Bail Bonds had to spend to find Oliver. The expenses included paying an informant, Padilla said.

He said the bail bond company had to have Oliver in custody by midnight the day he was apprehended in Nevada.

Padilla Bail Bonds says Oliver in August 2011 transferred property on Marshall Street in Sutter to his son Michael D.T. Oliver and property on North Township Road in Yuba City to a nephew.

The Sacramento bail bond company seeks to recover its costs to find Rick Oliver, Padilla said, and will not take the family property.

In the company's 34 year history, Padilla Bail Bonds has never kicked people out of their house, he said.