Ozzie Negron mortgaged his south Florida condominium to secure a $100,000 appeal bond to gain release from jail after having been convicted of drug charges. When he lost his appeal two years later, Negron jumped bail and the $100,000 was forfeited to the federal government.

A month after Negron lost his appeal, the government initiated a civil forfeiture action against his condominium. The bail bond company, which put up the $100,000 cash bail in exchange for Negron's mortgage, claimed to be an innocent owner.

In order to prove its innocent owner claim, the bonding company needed to prove that it lacked actual knowledge of the illegal acts that the forfeiture was based on. Since representatives from the bonding company were present at the initial bond hearing where the charges against Negron were read aloud, the court found that the bonding company was "wilfully blind" and that posting the bail without first ensuring that a forfeiture wouldn't be initiated nearly two years later "was its own blunder."

It is interesting to note that in this case the federal government got it's $100,000 twice. Once when Negron forfeited the $100,000 bail, and again when the federal court voided the mortgage that the bonding company relied upon to post the $100,000 bail.

See U.S. v. One Parcel of Real Property, 871 F.Supp. 437 (S.D.Fla 1994).