Phony Pasadena Bail Bondsman Never Posted Bail For Clients: Court

PASADENA, MD — A Pasadena man was sentenced to seven years in prison for stealing $18,000 when he posed as a bail bondsman, but never got the client out of jail, the attorney general's office said Monday in a news release. Thomas Christopher Wengert, 47, of Pasadena, was sentenced to 15 years’ incarceration, with all but five years suspended, on one count of acting as a licensed insurance agent; and two years incarceration on one count of theft of at least $10,000 but less than $100,000.

Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Michael Wachs ordered the sentences to run consecutively. Judge Wachs also ordered Wengert to serve five years of supervised probation upon release and to pay $18,400 in restitution.

On Jan. 19, 2019, Wengert entered an Alford plea to both crimes; the plea means that Wengert didn't admit to the crime, but did admit that if a jury saw the evidence presented during a trial, he would be found guilty.

In March 2017, Wengert, although unlicensed, represented himself as a bail bondsman to both an attorney and the victim. The victim gave Wengert $18,000 to post as bail for her husband’s release from jail. Wengert did not post the bail, nor did he return the money to the victim, prosecutors say.

In another case that year, Wengert was convicted of acting as a licensed insurance agent and

sentenced to serve 30 days in the Anne Arundel County detention center. However, nine days before serving his sentence, Wengert stole the $18,000 in this case. In addition to requiring Wengert to repay the victim, the judge ordered Wengert to repay an additional $400 to a
second victim.

While Wengert was in jail serving his 30-day sentence, he convinced a fellow inmate that he was a bail bondsman and could post bond for him once he was freed. Shortly after Wengert’s release from jail, again while posing as a bail bondsman, he received $400 from the inmate’s wife and never posted the bail, authorities said.

“Mr. Wengert is a serial offender and preyed upon victims who were in difficult circumstances,”
said Attorney General Brian Frosh in a news release. “The money he stole from his victims will be returned and he will serve an appropriate sentence for his crimes.”

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