FINDING LORI

COEUR d’ALENE — When she agreed to be released from jail, where she was being held for felony grand theft, Laurcene “Lori” Isenberg signed over her rights to Quick Release Bail Bonds.

That means because she never appeared for her arraignment, once the Coeur d’Alene bonding agency finds her, its recovery agents have the right to take Isenberg into their custody.

“We’re allowed to get her, basically, anywhere,” bondsman Chris Skinner of Quick Release said. “We have some leads.”

Isenberg, 64, is charged with embezzling more than a half-million dollars from a Coeur d’Alene nonprofit that assists homeless people and first-time homebuyers with affordable housing.

She was arrested on the grand theft charge — and released on a $75,000 bond — about the same time her husband, Larry, went missing. He was feared drowned during a boating excursion on Lake Coeur d’Alene with his wife.

Larry Isenberg’s body was later found floating in the lake. The cause of death has not been released, and Kootenai County prosecutors won’t say if Isenberg is a suspect in the death of her husband.

If an arrest warrant has been issued for Isenberg regarding her husband’s death, the information won’t be released until she is returned to court.

“That would be sealed until the arraignment,” said a Coeur d’Alene attorney who didn’t want to be named.

A $500,000 bench warrant was issued two weeks ago for her arrest on the embezzling charge, and the $75,000 bond was forfeited.

“We’ve got liens on her properties,” Skinner said.

He believes Isenberg had planned to skip bail, and was probably already on the lam before a judge issued the latest bench warrant.

“Based on our investigation, we don’t feel she ever intended to come back,” Skinner said. “I don’t think Lori has ever had any intention of showing up for any of this.”

Returning Isenberg to court is his agency’s responsibility, Skinner said. His recovery agents, or bounty hunters, have six months to find his client and return her to Kootenai County.

Sam Hansen, a Washington-based bounty hunter and bail bondsman, said that in many high-profile cases, he lets police follow the leads and make the arrest.

In the case of Isenberg, though, he said he would follow the money, ping her cellphone, calculate how much cash she had available, how long the money will last and contact relatives who may harbor her when it runs out.

“They’ll go somewhere they can get assistance,” Hansen said.

Because defendants sign away their liberties when they contract with a bonding agency, Hansen said he usually has access to a lot of information, including things that police need a warrant to obtain.

“We can find addresses, relatives, credit card information,” Hansen said. “We can look into her bank information. It depends on what we are looking for.”

Although he often works with law enforcement, Hansen said bondsmen have more autonomy than police.

“We have more leeway,” he said.

Learning whether Isenberg has crossed a border and moved outside the U.S. is doable, said both agents.

“I have never had to track anyone out of the country,” Skinner said. “We have agents retained who can do that.”

Since her release more than two months ago, Isenberg signed over, through quit claim deeds, four Kootenai County properties to her sister in California.

Attorneys for the North Idaho Housing Coalition, from which she allegedly embezzled the cash, also placed liens on the properties. The lis pendens that were filed in First District Court tie up the property as part of civil litigation.

Because Isenberg turned her assets and powers of attorney over to relatives, following a money trail has been a little harder than usual.

“I know she has access to money,” Skinner said.

His investigation is continuing alongside that of police.

“She did get a bit of a jump on us,” Skinner said.