Bail bondsman is on the hunt for truth about Haggard

Boxes labeled "New Life Church" occupy a prominent spot in Bobby Brown's downtown office, a testament to his mission to get to the bottom of allegations against Ted Haggard and the megachurch Haggard once headed.

For two years, the Colorado Springs bail bondsman, investigator and sometime bounty hunter has been casually digging into Haggard's alleged sexual indiscretions while he was senior pastor at New Life Church - the result, he says, of tips that came from several sources within New Life.

But he had other work to do, and no compelling reason to devote a lot of time to the case.

That changed last Friday, after New Life senior pastor Brady Boyd e-mailed church members to say that after Haggard's resignation in 2006, the church "received reports of a number of incidents of inappropriate behavior" that occurred when Haggard was pastor.

Brown nearly fell off his chair. He wondered if any of the alleged victims were minors, which would mean a crime had been committed, and if any received a settlement, like the $179,000 given to Grant Haas - a former church volunteer who went public Monday with a report that Haggard masturbated in front of him.

Now, Brown's investigation is in high gear. He's broadened it to include financial activity at the megachurch, and he claims to have uncovered seven cases of sexual misconduct by Haggard that occurred before he was forced to resign over a sexual relationship with a male prostitute. Brown says he's close to going public on some of the cases.

"I want to give people the answers they deserve, if anything criminal occurred and if money was paid," Brown, 58, said this week.

Being an investigator is only one of Brown's occupations. Around Colorado Springs, he's been mostly known as a bail bondsman, a business he started in 1991. More recently, he's become nationally known as a sometime bounty hunter with Duane "Dog" Chapman, star of the reality cable TV show "Dog the Bounty Hunter." Brown helps The Dog find fugitives in about one-third of the episodes.

Brown's income from his bail bonds business and bounty hunting on "Dog the Bounty Hunter" earn him enough money to do pro bono investigations, sometimes on cases that have helped the Colorado Springs Police and the El Paso County Sheriff's Department.

His investigation into Haggard and New Life is another pro bono job. His goal, he says, is simple:

"It is my passion to bring all this to light," he said. "My personal belief is that no one is above the law. I have no an ax to grind. I want to present the truth."