Bail Bondsman Wayne David Collins: The Shakedown King Of Miami

There are still lingering questions about how shady Miami Bail Bondsman Wayne David Collins was able to get his license considering his criminal past in Rhode Island.

We believe we have peeled back part of the veil of this mystery.

But what is a bigger mystery is how he has been able to keep it. Especially with the plethora of lawsuits filed against him alleging he scammed or shook people down for money.

Collins’s History Of Being A Thug In Rhode Island

Collins came to Florida after fleeing his native Rhode Island in 2003. He had been involved in a series of criminal and political scandals involving the Providence Police Department during the reign of the late political boss Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci.  

Collins started out as a Henry Hill wannabe. He started his criminal career as a petty thief in his blue-collar Irish neighborhood and soon graduated to armed robbery. 

Collins soon elevated his criminal status by ingratiating himself with the cops who arrested him. As a result of his new “relationships,” he soon began pulling scams right under their noses.  

Collins was the central figure in a 1997 police exam cheating scandal. He was accused of giving or selling the answers to the police exam to police department applicants.

He also began using his “friendships” with the police to get people off the hook for crimes including himself. After the cases were concluded, Collins would tell criminal defendants that he had “inside knowledge” that they were going to be charged again.

He would then demand money from the defendant claiming he could “make it go away”.

Collins was honing his skills as a con man and a shakedown artist. He was also honing his skills of building relationships with dirty cops and dirty politicians. Skills that would greatly benefit him with his move to Florida in the coming months.

The Secret Relationship Between Sally Burt And Wayne David Collins

Other bail bondsmen in Miami allege that Collins developed some type of relationship with Sally Burt when he came to Florida in 2003. What type of relationship the two had is unknown.

It seems like she fast-tracked the former convicted felon’s license application to be a bail bondsman in Florida. She also managed to get state regulators to overlook Collins’s criminal past.

Several bail bondsmen in Miami say Burt was on Collins’s payroll when she ran the former Florida Department of Insurance’s Bail Bonds division under former Governor Jeb Bush. 

Bush later merged the Department of Insurance with the other agencies to create the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR). After the re-organization of state agencies, Burt became a Regulatory Specialist at DBPR in 2007.

While at the same time, she became a principal with Peninsular Surety Company. An insurance company that offers insurance to none other than bail bondsmen.

Collins soon became an agent for Peninsular and began using them as part of his bail bonds business. He steered so much business to Peninsular that they made him a corporate officer.

Bail Bondsman Wayne David Collins Shakes Down Canadian Couple For $188,000 To Stop Fictitious Indictment 

It wasn’t long before Wayne David Collins was back to his old tricks of shaking people down as he did in Rhode Island. The big question is, why hasn’t the Florida AG gone after Collins? 

Take the 2013 lawsuit filed by Canadian Nancy Sanchez against Collins. In 2012, Sanchez’s husband Cesar Plaza was arrested in Miami. State prosecutors charged him with violating Florida narcotics laws. The court set Plaza’s bond at $250,000 or 10%. Sanchez used Collins’s company, Universal Bail Bonds to put up the bond. She gave Collins the $25,000 and in return let Collins put a $250,000 lien on her home in Canada.

Sanchez alleged in her 2013 lawsuit that a few days later Collins informed Sanchez and her husband that he needed an additional $180,000 in collateral for Plaza’s bond. Sanchez put her house for collateral with another mortgage. After closing costs, Sanchez was only able to give Collins $146,000. Sanchez was forced to borrow $22,000 from a family friend. 

Plaza’s defense attorney managed to convince a Miami judge that Plaza was not a flight risk. As a result, the judge eliminated his bond an released him from jail. 

Plaza And Sanchez Allege Collins Claimed He Can Make Future Indictments Disappear For $188,000

Plaza and Sanchez requested Collins return the $188,000 minus the $25,000 for the bond premium. 

Instead of returning the remaining funds, Collins concocted a scheme to keep the funds. Specifically, Collins told Plaza and the Sanchez that he had “inside information” suggesting that the federal government was going to indict Plaza on drug charges.

In addition, Collins told Plaza and Sanchez that he was keeping the remaining funds. Court documents say Collins told Plaza he was holding on to it in case the federal government indicted him.

Plaza again asked Collins to return the collateral after several months when it became clear he was not being indicted by the federal government. Instead of returning the funds, Collins told the Plaza and Sanchez that the federal government might still indict him. As a result, would retain the funds to post bond. 

Collins instilled fear in Plaza and Sanchez by claiming that the federal government might indict Plaza.

After months passed without an indictment, Plaza again asked Collins to return the collateral because Sanchez was having financial problems. Instead of returning the funds, Collins told Plaza that he would return the funds in a few weeks. Those weeks turned into months. Plaza and Sanchez allege this went on for an additional 4-5 months.

Bail Bondsman Collins Cranked Up The Bullshit. Did Collins Spend Money That Wasn’t His?

Sanchez kept demanding Collins to return her money. However, Collins continued with his delay tactics and cranked up the bullshit excuses.

This time, Collins told Sanchez that he needed to file a motion to discharge the bond in the state court. However, the state court had already discharged the bond the previous year.

Sanchez confronted the Miami Bail Bondsman and told him that she knew that the bond had already
been discharged.

In response, Collins informed Sanchez that he had filed a bond with federal authorities even though the federal government never indicted Plaza. He then informed Sanchez the federal government would indict her husband if he moved to discharge the bond.

Collins Resorts To Rhode Island Thuggery Days As He Bullies And Harasses Canadian Couple

Plaza and Sanchez continued pursuing the return of the collateral. As a result, Collins resorted to his old school Rhode Island tricks. He began threatening Sanchez and Plaza.

For example, Collins told the Plaintiff that the federal government was going indict her. He also sent multiple text messages to Plaza stating that Collins was going to make sure that the federal government was going to indict him and send him to jail.

For example, in one of the many text messages, Collins writes:

“I will work with the government 2 put u away for all the harm you have caused me . . . u owe me the money I must now give your wife that I am being extorted for . . . I will see u soon in prison I promise u that.”

In another text, Collins writes:

“hey I am wondering if u are coming 2 turn u and wife in or do they come and get you.”

Plaza and Sanchez’s lawsuit also alleges that in addition to the harassing texts, Collins repeatedly called them threatening them.

During litigation, the court ordered Collins place $185,000 into a court-mandated escrow account. The case was settled soon after.

Plaza and Sanchez weren’t the only ones Collins tried to shake down or scam money from. The Miami-Dade Clerk’s website and the federal government’s PACER system has a plethora of lawsuits filed against Collins for doing the same exact thing.