Owners of Sherman Oaks Bail Bond Company Admit to Kickback Scheme

LOS ANGELES, CA -- A former Los Angeles Police Department civilian employee who worked in the Valley Jail Division and a couple who owned a Sherman Oaks bail bond company pleaded guilty today to a felony charge stemming from a bail solicitation scheme.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Horwitz ordered Leonard Jimmy Ramirez, 44, and William Aroutounian, 35, and his wife, Iryna McCormick, 33, to each complete 400 hours of community service and three years of probation.

They were sentenced immediately after pleading guilty to providing information for purposes of bail solicitation.

Ramirez -- who worked in the Van Nuys jail -- provided contact information for arrestees to Aroutounian and McCormick in exchange for kickbacks, according to prosecutors.

The LAPD's Professional Standards Bureau launched an investigation after getting a tip that Ramirez was illegally providing contact information to the couple, who owned BBB Bail Bonds Co. and would then contact family members of people who had been arrested.

The three were charged in April. Ramirez no longer works at the jail, and McCormick and Aroutounian have surrendered their license as bail agents, according to Deputy District Attorney Rosa Alarcon.

City News Service