Everett bondsman caters to the java crowd

This is handy if you get arrested for driving after drinking too much, uh, coffee.

The coffee cup sleeve is an ad for Brandon’s Bail Bonds.

“You have to come up with new and unique ideas,” owner Brandon Drake said. “Everybody does the flashlights, matchbooks, coasters, stuff like that.”

That might work with your ordinary knave, ruffian, skel and other criminal element.

“With this economy, we’re finding a lot of decent folks are making bad decisions, such as kiting checks,” Drake said. “There’s a whole new market needing a service of this kind. What better way than coffee?”

It also gets in the hands of potential cosigners to take liability for the bond. “Folks who are employed,” he said. “That’s usually who goes to the coffee stands.”

Coffee cup ads are an economical way for businesses to tout their brand. Drake said he paid $100 per 1,300 recycled cardboard sleeves with his logo and slogan: “If the Devil made you do it, I’ll get you through it.”

He supplied sleeves to about six stands in Snohomish County, including 13 Buffalos Coffee Company on Rucker Avenue near his agency in downtown Everett.

For Buffalos owner Elizabeth LaCasse, the free sleeves are a perk.

“Anything to offset costs these days is great,” she said. “It probably saves me $25 a week.”

Still, she’s selective. She previously took sleeves from firefighters promoting CPR but turned down a sketchy repair business. Her best supplier was a casino’s coupon worth $10, but that ended when some entreprenuerial types started selling the sleeves for $5 each in the casino parking lot.

Drake and his staff frequent LaCasse’s stand. “Otherwise I might have been kind of iffy about throwing a bail bonds out there: ‘Hey, we serve coffee and we know people who will get you out of jail,’” she said.

The sleeve isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card. It’s not even good for $10 off. Bail bonding is cut-throat business.

“This industry has a touch of evil to it because you’re dealing with money and everybody wants a piece of the pie,” Drake said.

He got entangled in one of his cases in 2011 when he accepted a riding mower as bail collateral, and it turned out to have been stolen, according to court papers.

Drake has an active state license as a bail bondsman, as do a few dozen other agents in Snohomish County.

Courts and state law dictate the protocol and procedure, so it comes down to marketing to set one bail bondsman apart from the next. Bail bond offices often use garish signs and catchy slogans to stand out.

Jail Sucks Bail Bonds, a statewide company with an office in Everett, has a becausejailsucks.com domain with merchandise that includes “My grandma was Inmate of the Month” T-shirts.

Drake’s shirts have to be earned. “We used to do punch cards: Four bails and you get a free T-shirt,” he said.

He didn’t get any business from the first week of coffee sleeve promotion, but he’s optimistic. “I can’t imagine something can’t come out of it,” Drake said.

You never know, though. It could backfire.

“Maybe it will make people think twice,” said Buffalos barista Serenity Lundquist.

Andrea Brown; 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Larsen talks proposed Medicaid cuts during Compass Health stop in Everett

Compass Health plans to open its new behavioral health center in August. Nearly all of the nonprofit’s patients rely on Medicaid.

x
State audit takes issue with Edmonds COVID grant monitoring

The audit report covered 2023 and is the third since 2020 that found similar issues with COVID-19 recovery grant documentation.

Bothell
Bothell man pleads guilty to sexual abuse of Marysville middle schoolers

The man allegedly sexually assaulted three students in exchange for vapes and edibles in 2022. His sentencing is set for Aug. 29.

Police Cmdr. Scott King answers questions about the Flock Safety license plate camera system on Thursday, June 5, 2025 in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mountlake Terrace approves Flock camera system after public pushback

The council approved the $54,000 license plate camera system agreement by a vote of 5-2.

Snohomish County Health Department Director Dennis Worsham on Tuesday, June 11, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County Health Department director tapped as WA health secretary

Dennis Worsham became the first director of the county health department in January 2023. His last day will be July 3.

Community members gather for the dedication of the Oso Landslide Memorial following the ten-year remembrance of the slide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
The Daily Herald garners 6 awards from regional journalism competition

The awards recognize the best in journalism from media outlets across Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Cascadia College Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor Midori Sakura looks in the surrounding trees for wildlife at the North Creek Wetlands on Wednesday, June 4, 2025 in Bothell, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Cascadia College ecology students teach about the importance of wetlands

To wrap up the term, students took family and friends on a guided tour of the North Creek wetlands.

A firefighting helicopter carries a bucket of water from a nearby river to the Bolt Creek Fire on Saturday, Sep. 10, 2022, on U.S. 2 near Index, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Snohomish County property owners can prepare for wildfire season

Clean your roofs, gutters and flammable material while completing a 5-foot-buffer around your house.

Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen goes through an informational slideshow about the current budget situation in Edmonds during a roundtable event at the Edmonds Waterfront Center on Monday, April 7, 2025 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Edmonds mayor recommends $19M levy lid lift for November

The city’s biennial budget assumed a $6 million levy lid lift. The final levy amount is up to the City Council.

Everett
Everett police investigate fatal shooting on Evergreen Way

Two male subjects arrived at the hospital Thursday night. One later died, and the other is in critical condition.

The BEAD program was created under the federal infrastructure law that former President Joe Biden signed in 2021. It was fashioned as a way to expand high-speed internet service into rural areas and other parts of the country where it was unavailable or lacking. (Stock photo)
Feds throw Washington’s $1.2B broadband program into disarray

States spent more than two years preparing to distribute the infrastructure funding, now the Trump administration is making last-minute changes to the rules.

A Drug Free Zone sign visible along Colby Avenue on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett council renews ‘Stay Out of Drug Areas’

The council re-approved a policy allowing a court to ban people accused or convicted of drug crimes from entering parts of the city.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.