ROCKINGHAM — One local bondsman is on the hunt for an accused bail jumper.
Lloyd T. Rainwater on Friday posted 10 wanted posters around Richmond County offering a reward for information leading to the location and arrest of Benny Lee Hinson Jr.
According to Rainwater, Hinson failed to appear in Richmond County Superior Court three months ago on a charge of obtaining property by false pretenses.
The bail bondsman said he put up $7,000 for Hinson to be released from jail, but when Hinson didn’t show up in court, Rainwater received a notice to have the defendant in court within 150 days or else he loses that bond.
He has six weeks left.
As a bondsman, Rainwater carries a badge and has the authority to make an arrest anywhere.
Rainwater added that, usually, he can get defendants to come in within 30 days.
“I’ve made every effort that I know how to get him to come in,” Rainwater said Friday evening. “This is my last way of hunting him down.”
Rainwater said he received a call last week that Hinson was in downtown Rockingham. When he drove to the location, he said he saw Hinson in a vehicle but the defendant jumped out and ran into Rockingham First United Methodist Church.
The bondsman said he then called 911 to get assistance from the Rockingham Police Department, but Hinson slipped away.
Rainwater said he continued to track Hinson for about 30 minutes, going all the way up to the Millstone Road area.
He plans to post and pass out the remaining 40 of the 50 posters he had printed over the weekend.
A reward of $100 is being offered to anyone who can give information leading to Hinson’s arrest.
He said during his 23 years in the business, he’s written around 25,000 bonds, but he’s only had to put up 15 or 20 posters.
Being a bondsman, he said, “(you have to) roll the dice.”
About a decade ago, Rainwater said he lost and had to pay out a $50,000 bond, which he still hasn’t recovered.
“You’re gonna pay the piper every now and then,” he said.
Rainwater is also currently looking for Greensboro man wanted for failing to appear in a Richmond County court on a charge of resisting a public officer.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
