Steve Blackman has been running a bail bonds business in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for eighteen years since leaving WWE, and on the Stories of Briscoe and Bradshaw podcast he told two stories about catching bail jumpers that are very much in keeping with his reputation for being the most feared man in the locker room.
The first involved a fugitive nobody could locate. Blackman had someone on his team pose as a woman online and spend seven days building a connection with the target. “After seven days, he bit on it,” Blackman said. His crew surrounded a 100-yard area and waited for the man to show up to meet the fake profile. “He came walking over, and when I saw him, I took off running. It was a high bail. I sprinted at him, grabbed him, and pinned him against a garage door.” The man’s reaction when he was caught: “He goes, ‘I knew better. I knew this was a setup, and I still showed up.’ He couldn’t resist after thinking he’s been talking to this girl for a week.”
The second involved a 525-pound bail jumper who had skipped his court date. Nobody else would take the case because the man had been held in another county. Blackman drove out, bailed him out personally, and then the man disappeared. After days of searching, Blackman tracked down the man’s location, had his apartment complex surrounded, and got him on the phone.
“I said, ‘Dude, you’re kidding me, right? Nobody would get you out but me. I’m the only person who got you out. You’re going to screw me by not going to court?’ I said, ‘Are you standing right inside the door?’ He goes, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Okay, get the hell out of the way, because I’m going to drive my truck straight through that front door. I’m coming in one minute. I’m going to drive right through the wall.'”
The man’s response: “If you get me a pizza, I’ll go with you.”
“We got him a pizza,” Blackman said. “He came along.”
Blackman said the Harrisburg location works in his favor. “I’ve bailed out so many of the guys in Harrisburg. I know so many family members and friends, and I only live ten minutes from the jail. Most of the guys I bail out are from this area, so I have a pretty good rapport.” He added a practical caveat. “You certainly can’t be dumb enough to trust half of them, because they’re just going to lie to you to get out. But a lot of them I’ve worked with before, so it’s okay.”
Blackman ran an MMA school for thirteen years alongside the bail bonds work, with four of his fighters eventually reaching the UFC. He said the bail bonds business has suited him. “It works for me.”
If you use quotes from this article, please credit Stories of Briscoe and Bradshaw with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
