Reported DeKalb kidnapping was bounty hunter's work, police say

DeKALB – A reported kidnapping at a gas station turned out to be agents from a Mississippi bail bond company who had come to collect a fugitive, DeKalb police said Friday evening.

According to a news release, the incident was reported at 3:20 p.m. Police said Clarissa Riddle, 27, left Casey’s General Store, 1001 N. Annie Glidden Road, with a man and a woman. Her husband, who she had come with, saw her leave and thought she had been kidnapped, DeKalb Deputy Police Chief John Petragallo said.

“Her husband saw it and it looked like it was an abduction, but that’s not what it was,” Petragallo said.

Police had earlier said it was not a random act and there was no threat to the public.

DeSoto County, Mississippi, is in the northwest corner of the state, south of Memphis, Tennessee.

Illinois is one of four states that does not license commercial bail bondsmen, and state law prohibits private bounty hunters from pursuing fugitives within the state's borders.

Commercial bail bondsmen put up the money for people to be released from jail, in exchange for a fee. If a person does not show up for court, or “jumps bail,” the only way for a bail bondsman to get their money back is to apprehend them and return them to jail.

Petragallo said Riddle was expected to return to the area after she handles her legal affairs in Mississippi and police would like to talk to her then.