The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Dulos called bondsman before apparent suicide attempt
FARMINGTON — Mark Motuzick didn’t realize the urgency when Fotis Dulos called him Tuesday morning.
Motuzick, of Capitol Bail Bonds in Hartford, had twice posted $500,000 bonds for the 52year-old Farmington resident when he was charged last year with two counts of tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in the disappearance of his estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos.
But Motuzick didn’t know Fotis Dulos had been summoned to court Tuesday for an emergency bond hearing at noon in Stamford where a judge could have at least temporarily sent him back to jail. Palmetto Surety Corporation, which posted the $6 million bond this month when Fotis Dulos was charged with murder, felony murder and kidnapping, was no longer willing to guarantee the funds.
“He sounded concerned and asked if I was connected to Palmetto,” Motuzick told Hearst Connecticut Media of the call he received at 9:53 a.m. Tuesday. “I’d told him I’d have to look into it (whether he could take the bond) and I’d call him back.”
Palmetto was planning to back out of the bond, after reviewing the potential collateral available from the various real estate properties Fotis Dulos owned as part of his development business, Fore Group.
When Motuzick called back at 10:34 a.m., Fotis Dulos sounded out of breath and said he “was all set,” the bondsman said. Motuzick called Fotis Dulos back around
noon when he heard he didn’t show up for the bond hearing.
“I didn’t know he was due in court,” the bondsman said. “When I called him back after I heard he didn’t show up for the hearing, he didn’t answer.”
By that point, Farmington police said they had found Fotis Dulos unresponsive in his running car with the windows up inside his garage. Dulos remained in critical condition Wednesday at Jacobi Medical Center in New York following the suicide attempt.
Motuzick is now concerned that Fotis Dulos was already acting on his plan to take his own life when he spoke to him around 10:30 a.m.
“He was always decent and humble,” Motuzick said. “We’d joke around. He remained positive that he had done nothing wrong.”
While Fotis Dulos was trying to reach Motuzick, he may not have realized that his defense attorney, Norm Pattis, had already secured New York high-profile bondsman Ira Judelson.
Judelson said he was originally contacted earlier this month, before it was decided that Palmetto would handle the bond.
“I stood down,” Judelson said. “Until I got the phone call from Norm (Tuesday) morning that he believed the bond was going to be revoked for some technicalities.”
The bond hearing was postponed to Wednesday afternoon when a judge ordered for Fotis Dulos to be rearrested. If Fotis Dulos recovers and is released from the hospital, Judelson will handle the bond.
“It’s our position that this not our problem,” Pattis said. “Our view is that bond should remain as it is. Fotis didn’t misrepresent anything.”
If Palmetto agreed to cover the bond, Pattis said, the company should now explain why weeks later it wasn’t properly reviewed when it was issued.
The family placed a deposit on the bond with Palmetto, which would have to be refunded and then issued to the new bond company, Motuzick said. That would not take place until court officials approved a change in bond companies and it was determined that Palmetto has agreed to step out of the bond, he said.
The bond situation was not Fotis Dulos’ fault, he said.
“He was locked up” when the bond was secured, Motuzick
said.
“When you go to a professional to get help, you expect the professional to go by the rules and the guidelines,” he said. “He wasn’t even present. Why should he be persecuted? He didn’t even know what was going on.”
Motuzick has known Fotis Dulos for about eight months since he was first arrested in June. The arrest occurred about a week after Jennifer Dulos vanished when police said they found videos of a couple resembling Fotis Dulos and his girlfriend Michelle Troconis throwing out bags of garbage in Hartford that investigators said contained the blood of his estranged wife, according to arrest warrants.
Fotis Dulos has been on house arrest since he was released this month on $6 million bond on the murder and kidnapping charges.
Last week, Judge Gary White ordered Fotis Dulos to be on strict home confinement after State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo said he removed items from a memorial for his estranged wife that was set up near his home.
White threatened to double the bond amount if Fotis Dulos violated the terms of his release again, pointing out he was previously warned about the battery running too low on the electronic device that is monitoring his movements.
Pattis said the judge’s decision to prevent Fotis Dulos from being able to go to work could cripple his already struggling real estate development company and further impact his financial troubles.
“He was always decent to me, a gentleman,” Motuzick said. “I never had a reason to believe that he would flee or that he was a flight risk.”