Eleven bounty hunters looking for a fugitive Tuesday night mistakenly targeted the home of Phoenix police Chief Joseph Yahner while following a tip they received via social media, police said.
The proprietor of NorthStar Fugitive Recovery, a 43-year-old named Brent Farley, was arrested and charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct. A police officer said Farley “refused to leave the property” and “continued to give commands to Yahner” even after others on the scene had realized their mistake.
A quote further down in AZCentral.com’s piece about the incident may help explain how something like this could happen:
John Burns, former president of the Arizona Bail Bondsmen Association, said Arizona is one of the few states that don’t require bail bondsmen or fugitive recovery agents to be trained or educated.
I realize Burns probably means “educated about bail-related investigative techniques,” but what it sounds like is that he’s saying Arizona doesn’t require fugitive recovery agents to have attended so much as kindergarten, which seems plausible in this case, at least.
