PANAMA CITY — A man accused of impersonating a bail bondsman and using his self-imposed authority to blackmail nefarious characters has been sentenced to five years in prison for harassing an undercover narcotics investigator, according to court records.
However, 31-year-old Christopher Robert Smith still faces charges of acting as a bail bondsman without a license, burglary of an occupied dwelling and false imprisonment.
Smith, of Panama City, was convicted Feb. 10 of yelling obscenities at a Bay County deputy, who had arrested him previously, in a local convenience store. The officer was there with his 4-year-old daughter. As they were trying to drive away, Smith boxed in their car with his own and took a picture of the officer and his daughter. Smith then posted the picture on Facebook and identified him as an undercover officer.
Smith was convicted of tampering with a witness, and Circuit Judge Brantley Clark handed down a five-year sentence for that charge. Clark also assigned a March trial date to resolve his other pending cases.
Smith knew the BCSO deputy from a 2012 narcotics investigation. 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.
BCSO said Smith obtained some narcotics by posing as the bail bond agent and shaking down strippers and others who he knew to have active warrants.
However, possession of controlled substances and firearms charges were dropped after Smith’s attorney demonstrated BCSO gathered the evidence during what Clark ruled an “illegal search.” Smith’s attorney, Lisa Ann Anderson, argued BCSO requested information on firearms after the search of Smith’s home and vehicle began, indicating they had been seized before the time they received a search warrant.
Clark ruled the officers “conducted an illegal search of (Smith’s) home and vehicle prior to obtaining a consent to search.”
BCSO has since 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 that criminal consequences would not follow those statements. Clark has allowed those statements to be admitted as evidence during Smith’s trial for allegedly acting as an unlicensed bail bondsman.
Because Smith is related to a local law enforcement officer, his case is being prosecuted by the 1st Circuit State Attorney’s Office. Though Smith has been sentenced to five years in prison, he could face additional time for the charges of acting as an unlicensed bail bond agent, burglary of an occupied dwelling and false imprisonment.
A trial date of March 9 has been set, when Smith faces up to an additional 45 years in prison.