Business partner linked Suzanne Simpson case makes bail
The business partner investigator federal agents say hid an AK-47 for Brad Simpson linked to the murder of Suzanne Clark Simpson has made bail Friday, November 8, after spending two weeks behind bars at the Bexar County Jail. Brad Simpson's former business partner, James Cotter , will now be ordered to full house arrest once he's processed out of the jail.
It only took a day for Cotter to pay his $50,000 bond after prosecutors and his defense attorney struck a closed door deal to reduce the amount from $500,000 on Thursday after Cotter's attorney argued his client couldn't afford the original amount. Court records show he paid his bond in cash Friday.
Cotter was originally arrested on October 21 on two felony charges of evidence tampering and illegal possession of a weapon. However, prosecutors appear to only be moving on the weapons charge, according to court records online.
According to an arrest warrant served to Brad Simpson in jail on Tuesday, October 22, Simpson reportedly reached out longtime business partner James Cotter on October 8 asking for help hiding a weapon. Cotter, son of the now deceased San Antonio real estate tycoon James F. Cotter , had faced legal troubles alongside Brad in their span of business ventures together.
"If you're in Bandera can you haul ass and meet me at your house," Brad Simpson reportedly texted Cotter, according to the arrest warrant.
"Ok, make sure to leave all that s*** in the pump house, especially the gun," the warrant's collection of texts from Brad Simpson to Cotter continues. "Sorry for the urgency but you're all I go especially now... social media is destroying me."
An anonymous witness who investigators say has supplied corroboration information in the past informed investigators that Cotter had actually taken an AK-47 from the Simpson family home, where Brad Simpson had a walk-in vault stocked with weapons.
According to the warrant, Cotter retrieved the weapon prior to detectives searching the family home. Investigators then took the anonymous witness to Cotter's home, the warrant says, and the witness directed detectives to a hollowed-out area in a wall behind Cotter's bedroom television. Inside, the found the AK-47 in question.
Online court records show Cotter will be subject to full house arrest and ordered to war a GPS tracker. Further, he'll be required to submit for random drug and alcohol testing, and he won't be allowed to possess a firearm.
