On the Case

Tex-Mex border portable restroom contractor balances sanitation services and bail bonds business

With an entrepreneurial streak as long as a drive across Texas, Peter Venegas is proud to head up several successful companies — among them is South Texas Waste Systems in Laredo. His portable restroom company may be just one piece of his business pie, but it seems obvious that Venegas has a knack for providing necessary services others might not want to provide.

Venegas Bail Bonds, one of his ventures, is proof of his versatility. As a bail bond agent, Venegas will charge a fee to a criminal defendant and then pledge a substantially larger sum of money as bail for them. He is then responsible for making sure the defendant shows up for scheduled court dates. If the defendant doesn’t show up in court, Venegas loses the pledged money. With a state license to post bonds up to $4 million, Venegas has worked in the trade for almost 16 years, mostly servicing drug cases on the Mexican border.

“I run my office from my (portable sanitation) yard. It’s been a very good business,” says Venegas, 39, who adds that it’s possible to make $50,000 in just one hour on a major case. “It depends on your reputation,” he says. “Having 15 years on your back helps a lot.”

FROM RESTROOM TO COURTROOM

Venegas, an American of Mexican descent, started his portable sanitation business as kind of a fluke. In 2004, when a partner backed out of a planned waste management venture, Venegas had the equipment (front loaders, roll-offs and two dozen Satellite Industries Inc. units), so he branched off into portable sanitation.

“When I started,” he says, “I started from scratch, but then I bought several companies.” He says the Laredo area — which has a population of 237,000 — was probably too small to accommodate several restroom vendors. Buying several of his competitors helped.

A few years later, Venegas now has more than 400 units (from manufacturers including Satellite, Hampel Corp., PolyJohn Enterprises Corp. and NuConcepts). “I’ll be honest,” he says, “You open a business and you expect it to do well, but it’s been a difficult market.”

That’s why in a struggling economy, Venegas considers his bail bonds job his “bread and butter.”

Looking for a new business venture, Venegas’ attorney suggested he try bail bonds, but at first he balked. “At first, I was afraid of dealing with the convicts,” says Venegas, now one of the self-proclaimed biggest drug bailsmen in Laredo.

Venegas said the bail bonds business is laden with pure adrenalin.

“I like the action, the excitement,” he says, adding that honesty is the key to maintaining a successful business.

NUTS AND BOLTS OF BAIL BONDS

After being imprisoned, offenders have access to a list of members of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas, the association to which Venegas belongs. When Venegas is contacted, he visits the jail and discusses the terms with the offender — who must put up collateral to cover the amount of the bond — which can reach into the millions depending on the violation.

“They pay me, I pick them up. I’m there to help them, give them a service,” he says.

“People will pay you anything for freedom,” says Venegas, adding that he might charge a client $100,000 to $200,000, depending on the amount of their bail. “When they come to you with a problem, you can charge whatever you want.”

The biggest worry of any bail bondsman is having a client miss their court date. But while Venegas admits he has had offenders jump bail, he says that’s an infrequent occurrence. Still, it’s a possibility he lives with every day. He has the option of hiring a bounty hunter or local police to track down the offender. That’s important because without the offender, the money Venegas puts up is in jeopardy.

“The government never loses,” he says. “If the convict doesn’t show up, they’re going to call me.” Ultimately, if the offender doesn’t appear in court, Venegas is responsible to pay “whatever the judge decides. That’s why I need to have collateral.”

Unlike his portable restroom business, Venegas’ fees for bail bonds service vary quite a bit.

“I can charge whatever I want; it depends on how risky the case is,” he says. Often, cases involving a large volume of drugs may require a higher bond — “not necessarily always, but most of the time.”

The risks of the job — dealing with potentially dangerous clients and having the offenders jump bail — are obvious. But that’s why Venegas says he is choosy about his clients. “I try to pick my people,” he says. “I don’t take everyone.”

“One of every 10 to 15 cases gets depressing,” says Venegas, who after 15 years is adept at reading people, their personalities and their motivation. “I can decide if I will take someone just by hearing them on the phone.”

The nature of Venegas’ business has him dealing with several repeat clients, but he hastens to add that despite their digressions, they are not all “bad people.”

“They’ve been caught once, twice, three times; that’s their ‘job.’ You’d be surprised what kind of people they are. They think they can get away with it,” he says.

ULTIMATE MULTI-TASKER

When he first started the bail bonds business, Venegas made himself available 24 hours a day. But these days, with a wife, three kids and a portable restroom business to watch, his time is a bit more divided.

Both businesses are demanding, but Venegas credits his employees at South Texas Waste Systems for keeping things running smoothly on the sanitation front.

“I have good employees, and we try to manage everything the right way,” he says, adding that his wife, Wimberley, an eighth-grade teacher, recently took on oversight of the restroom business — a move Venegas hopes will allow South Texas Waste Systems to pick up more business. “That’s what we’re planning,” he says. “She’s actually learning the business from the inside, getting in from the bottom, learning to route, how to sell, how to talk to people.”

South Texas Waste Systems has faced its challenges. “With the economy, it’s not going so well,” Venegas admits. Still, while he doesn’t have expansion plans right now, he remains positive about keeping current customers happy by providing impeccable sanitation service.

A tenacity and can-do attitude is necessary to succeed in both of Venegas’ businesses, where the hours are long and unusual and the thank-yous are few.

“Every business has risks,” he says. “A lot of people ask me, ‘Is (bail bonds) a good business?’ My answer is, ‘Everything is a good business.’ It’s the way you manage it and have control.’’



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