[PHOTO CREDIT: Lake County Sheriff’s Office]
[Original Publish Date: 05/01/20]
OCALA, Florida — A bail bondsman found himself on the other side of the law Thursday when he was booked into the Lake County Jail on a warrant from Marion County accusing him of shooting a client who skipped bond — and it was all captured on video.
Trini Lovosier Thomas, 56, owner of Trini L. Thomas Bail Bonds, who had a longtime office in Leesburg, stands accused of shooting one of his clients in Ocala the evening of April 17 as she attempted to flee from him and another bondsman.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Thomas told Ocala Police he had been trying to locate Natalia Gooden since she skipped in 2019 and was injured as he attempted to apprehend her in November 2019. He was partially in the vehicle she was in when it fled, causing him to fall from the vehicle and require hospitalization in that incident.
On April 17, Thomas received information Gooden was in Orlando and he located the vehicle she was in and tried to follow her back to Ocala, contacting several law enforcement agencies along the way with negative results. He lost sight of the bronze Cadillac SRX and then located it again in Ocala and followed it to Kermit’s Precision Auto Care, 1723 Northeast 23 Terrace shortly before 7:30 p.m..
Surveillance video from the scene shows Thomas and another bondsman, Tommie Jordan, exit a black Toyota Tundra; Thomas approaches the driver’s door of the Cadillac and Jordan approaches the passenger side. Jordan leaves to retrieve something from the Toyota, which Thomas later tells police is a sledgehammer. Thomas swings the sledgehammer at the Cadillac several times and the Cadillac first moves in reverse and then back and forth from drive to reverse in an attempt to get away, the affidavit states. The sledgehammer breaks the driver’s side window and Thomas reaches into the window in attempt to restrain the driver, identified as Gooden. Gooden backs the Cadillac up and hits Thomas’ leg. A witness tries to intervene and Thomas produces a gun and fires several shots at the Cadillac that not only contained Gooden, but also her 4-year-old son. Thomas told police he believed Gooden was the only occupant of the vehicle, according to the affidavit; and at least one shot struck her in the arm.
Police questioned Gooden several days later while she was still in the hospital and she told police she did not know Thomas was her bondsman. She told police she did recall the incident where Thomas was injured in 2019, and she knew her bondsman was a black male, she did “not know his face,” the affidavit states.
When police asked Thomas why he fired, he said he was trying to stop Gooden from harming him or leaving and he was trying to “stop the threat,” the affidavit states.
However, the detective investigating the case disagreed. “I believe that although Thomas was struck by the vehicle which Gooden was operating, Thomas had backed away from her vehicle and was clear of the threat of further harm,” the affidavit states.
Thomas is charged with shooting into an occupied vehicle and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, He was released from the Lake County Jail on $20,000 bond.
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Our Editor-in-Chief, Marilyn M. Aciego, began writing for Lake Legal News in 2010. Born and raised in Lake County, she is a graduate of Umatilla High School and Lake-Sumter State College. She started her journalism career at LSSC, where she was editor of both student publications, The Angler and The Odyssey. Her professional career began at the Daily Commercial in 2004 where she covered cops and courts the majority of her time there until she left in 2009. Currently, along with being Editor-in-Chief of Lake Legal News, she is the Florida bureau chief for an international media organization. She has made more than two dozen appearances on live national television, including Nancy Grace and the Greta Van Susteren show, along with her appearance on Evil Twins. Contact her with breaking news, tips, and feedback by sending an e-mail to 352Tips@gmail.com. You can also contact us on our Facebook page — and make sure you “Like” and “Follow us” there. [PHOTO CREDIT: Bonnie Whicher]
