PANAMA CITY — A man facing charges of impersonating a bail bond agent has been convicted of threatening a law enforcement officer with ties to his arrest, state prosecutors announced Thursday.
Christopher Robert Smith, 31, could now face up to 30 years in prison for threatening the officer, according to prosecutors. However, he still faces several counts of acting as an unlicensed bail bondsman and false imprisonment.
Jurors found that Smith approached Stephen O’Brien, an investigator with the Special Investigations Division of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, twice on Sept. 21 in the Dollar General on Cherry Street in Panama City. O’Brien was in the store to buy a battery for a toy belonging to his 4-year-old daughter, who was in the store with O’Brien. Smith threatened to harm O’Brien during the encounters, blocked O’Brien from leaving in his vehicle and took photographs of O’Brien and his car, officials said.
Smith knew O’Brien from a 2012 narcotics investigation, in which O’Brien was a witness. During that investigation, BCSO was called in to assist the Florida Department of Financial Services Division of Insurance Fraud in a search of Smith’s home. Smith was arrested for allegedly impersonating a bail bondsman, which entailed apprehending two individuals and transporting them to jail, and a variety of drug-related charges, according to court documents.
Charges ranging from trafficking in illegal drugs, possession of steroids and prescription forms, and felon in possession of a firearm were dropped after Smith’s attorney demonstrated BCSO gathered the evidence during what a judge called an “illegal search.” Smith’s attorney argued BCSO requested information on firearms, indicating they had been seized, before the time they received a search warrant for Smith’s home and vehicle.
Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark ruled the officers “conducted an illegal search of (Smith’s) home and vehicle prior to obtaining a consent to search,” but BCSO has said Smith gave verbal and written consent to the search prior to requesting the search warrant.
Smith also claimed BCSO obtained statements from himself and his father, a Panama City Police officer, by allegedly implying no criminal consequences would follow. However, Clark has allowed those statements to be admitted as evidence during Smith’s trial for allegedly acting as an unlicensed bail bondsman.
A trial date has yet to be set on those charges. Smith’s next scheduled court appearance to submit a motion on the active charges is set for the same date as his sentence hearing. Smith could face up to 30 years in prison for threatening the officer when Clark sentences him Feb. 27.