North End Serial Burglary Suspect's Preliminary Hearing Tomorrow

According to a letter from the District Attorney's office posted to the Salemtown Neighbors e-mail list, burglary suspect Darren Lamont Hardemon's bond will be set at $180,000, which will allow him to post bail of $18,000 to get out of jail:

Mr. Hardemon was arraigned in May on charges of aggravated burglary and theft. Until recently, he has been out on bond, which had been set at $10-thousand.

He has since been arrested on new charges: 2 aggravated burglary and one burglary. Investigations continue on other potentially charges. He remains in jail. His combined bond for these three new charges is $180-thousand. To make bond, if a defendant uses a bonding company, he or she has to pay 10%. In Mr. Hardemon's case, to make bond, he would need to pay $18-thousand. But given the amount of Mr. Hardemon's bond, he would first need to have a bond source hearing, to prove that the money to provide the bond did not come from ill-gotten gains.

The next step in Mr. Hardemon's prosecution is a discussion date in criminal court [last Thursday], which is more procedural than anything. Nothing significant to advance the case is expected at that time; since he has new charges pending, the criminal case will likely track these new charges.

He also has a preliminary hearing set on the new charges for Monday, on the 9a docket. (Although the docket starts at 9a, there's no certainty about at what time a particular case will be heard). During the preliminary hearing, the State (our office) has to prove probable cause...that this crime occurred, and that it was most likely this defendant who committed it. If the judge finds PC, he will bind the case
over to the grand jury. The police department will continue to investigate the cases, and it usually takes a couple of months for cases to be fully prepared. Our office will then review the case and present it to the grand jury. Then the grand jury hears the case, and if they indict the defendant, s/he will be arraigned a couple weeks after that, and the process continues at the criminal court level.

Those who are listed as victims on the police complaints will be alerted as to hearing dates on this case, and a Victim Witness coordinator from our office will assist them with where to go and what they need to know in advance.

Please know that our office continues to work with the detectives on this case to ensure we have all the information we need going into the prosecution of this case.

I know you are part of a very active community watch, and I encourage you to share this information with them, as I know it's a concern for many of the residents there.

Hardemon was able to bail himself out last Christmas for $1,000 and proceeded to go on a burglary spree around Salemtown. Will he be able to bail himself out once again in time for the July 4 holiday?