Meet Our Team

Turning Leaf was founded by John M. Rorabaugh, Esq., a California native who has been a practicing bail bondsman attorney and bail law expert since 1993. He has worked for 25 years with the California courts and legislature to develop a system that has made the current bail system much more effective.

When Mr. Rorabaugh started working in bail in the early 90’s, bail agents were at the forefront of the civil rights movement. For example, Celes King III was a civil rights icon and Tuskegee airman. Celes King’s slogan was “Families helping Families.” Albert Ramirez Sr was known for bailing out an entire Cesar Chavez protest. The courts dramatically increased bail rates, making them 5 to 10 times higher than the rest of the country. This forced bail agents to devise creative solutions to ensure defendants could regain their freedom from state custody. The skyrocketing bail rates caused undue financial burden on low income defendants and their families. Mr. Rorabaugh wants to empower families to obtain the support required to supervise and care for their family members awaiting trial while simultaneously keeping them out of state control.

He has been at the forefront of legislative and judicial efforts to streamline and develop rules that are comprehensive and advantageous for the industry as a whole. His representation of sureties and bail agents has resulted in more published authority on bail than any other law firm in California.

Turning Leaf has been designed to utilize the effective parts of the commercial bail system and improve upon its limitations. We focus on providing timely intervention helping defendants work on the issues that led to their arrest in the first place. This will decrease not only the risk of fleeing but also becoming dependents of society, or engaging in further criminal behavior thus increasing public safety for all.