Posted Sunday, August 10 --- 8:52am

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) -- It doesn't happen often, but a La Crosse judge is allowing a person to cover a friend's cash bond using something other than cash.

A 19-year-old woman was being held on $50,000 cash bond on charges of first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse. Indra Book is accused of starving her newborn to death last year.

A friend offered to use the mortgage on an apartment building to cover $40,000 of that amount. The other $10,000 is in cash.

A property bond has never been accepted in La Crosse County, but Horne accepted it Friday, saying other state counties regularly do it.

Court officials are sometimes reluctant to accept this type of bond security. That's because if the county revokes the bond, it would have to foreclose on the property to get its money.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.