WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. – Officers arrested a bail bond agent who they say illegally entered a Whatcom County man’s home and attempted to bribe him a week later.
Court documents state that the resident’s stepson called him after three people entered the residence on Cain Lake Road on Dec. 11, 2022.
The stepson claimed one of the people identified themselves as a law enforcement official, pointed a gun at him, and told him to leave the home.
While deputies were responding to the scene a person identified as Mardi Martone called 911, stating she was a bail bond agent searching for a fugitive at the home.
The agent said she was given permission to enter by the homeowner, and that she found drugs and other suspicious items inside.
Investigators later determined that Martone had entered the home illegally and was attempting to help the homeowner evict the victim rather than searching for a fugitive as she had claimed.
A separate police report says Martone returned to the home a week later and offered the victim information on the two other individuals in exchange for a recanted statement to investigators from his stepson.
Deputies arrested 51-year-old Marcia Martone for burglary and witness bribery on Dec. 27, 2022.
Martone disputes some details in the deputies’ reports of the incidents.
But she did accept a deferred prosecution agreement on Feb. 6, 2024 under which prosecutors will drop the charges after two years if she follows requirements of the agreement.