From his experience in Mexico, Harvey Childs, chairman of Greenville-based Bail USA Inc., knew the country was not a good place for bail agents or bounty hunters to try to find fugitives who have skipped bail.

In a trade article he wrote on tracking bail skippers in Mexico, the chairman of the nation's largest bail-bonding company advised his readers to forget about trying to track them south of the Rio Grande. In the long run, he wrote, going to Mexico would only cost more time and money than it is worth.

"It is a very corrupt country," Childs said. "And the Mexican government is very protective of its sovereignty."

So when Tim Chapman, who runs Bail USA's Hawaii office, approached the company's chief executive officer, Cheryl Burns, a short time ago and told her he wanted to go to Mexico to catch a bail jumper, she told him he was crazy.

"He was very gung-ho," Childs said. "But he wouldn't listen to advice."

Now, Chapman is sitting in a Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, jail, along with two other would-be bounty hunters and their two-person camera crew.

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