‘Gentle giant’: Bondsman tried to help man before Sacramento beating death; suspect arraigned
Sacramento bail bondsman Kevin Brace was a simple man.
For more than 30 years, he always arrived at a graveyard shift at Greg Padilla Bail Bonds in downtown Sacramento. The 56-year-old, who worked under Sacramento’s most illustrious bail bondsman, arranged his desk the same each day and watched wrestling any chance he got.
“He wanted to work overnights because he said that people that are in jail … overnight deserve to have a bail bondsman here for them,” said Brace’s longtime colleague, Topo Padilla, the co-owner of Greg Padilla Bail Bonds.
The 56-year-old was watching wrestling before 4 a.m. Monday when Jacob Levi Mandell knocked on the glass doors of the business, directly across from Robert T. Matsui United States Courthouse, and asked to speak on the phone.
That’s when a fight erupted and Mandell dragged Brace onto the street and beat him to death, Padilla said. Padilla and other colleagues and family appeared Wednesday in downtown Sacramento County Main Jail as Mandell entered a not-guilty plea in Brace’s beating death.
Mandell, 39, had no reaction as Court Commissioner Alicia Hartley read off the murder charge and an audience member let out a loud sniffle. Numerous family and friends packed into the courtroom to watch the proceedings.
Raj Rai, a spokeswoman for the San Juan Unified School District, said Mandell was a seasonal wrestling coach at El Camino Fundamental High School in Arden Arcade. His contract lasted from November until March, she said.
Mandell was a customer for Greg Padilla Bail Bonds in 2020, Greg and Topo Padilla said. But Brace’s death was not related to Mandell’s prior interactions with the company nor was the suspect angry when approaching Brace about the phone call, the owners said.
“My family has been in this business for over 50 (years),” Topo Padilla said. “This has never happened.”
Court records show Mandell faced a misdemeanor case in 2020, but it was not immediately clear what charges he faced.
Officers were alerted early Monday to a fight that broke out in the 500 block of I Street, in front of Greg Padilla Bail Bonds. Brace died at the scene after Sacramento Fire Department personnel rendered medical aid.
“He made the fatal mistake of going too far to help somebody,” Padilla said of Brace, while calling him a “gentle giant.”
Niece Jordan Brace remembered her uncle as a kind and funny man who loved to help everyone.
Mandell is scheduled to appear June 12 for his next court appearance. He remains held without bail in the Main Jail.
