Tony Patillo, one of the men charged last month with rape and sodomy that allegedly took place on board a Tiger Transit bus, is back in jail after his bond was revoked this weekend.
Patillo’s bond was set at $127,000 following his arrest on Sept. 16. He made bond on Sept. 22, and was released from jail on the condition that he wear a tracking ankle monitor allowing law enforcement to locate him at any time.
According to a motion filed in the Lee County District Court by District Attorney Brandon Hughes on Saturday, Patillo’s ankle monitor was not working from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday. Multiple calls were placed to Patillo from the company in charge of the tracking device, but he did not answer any of them.
Contact with Patillo was eventually made, and his ankle monitor was replaced in case the device was faulty. As of 1 p.m. on Saturday, when the motion was filed, the district attorney’s office said Patillo’s whereabouts had been unknown for more than 14 hours.
“It’s my stance that it was not a malfunction, it was deliberately letting the battery die, or there was something that he was doing so we couldn’t track him,” Hughes said. “I sent my investigator to retrieve Mr. Patillo, and he was arrested.”
Two hours after the prosecution filed its motion, Judge Steve Speakman granted it, revoking Patillo’s bond.
Patillo is currently in custody at Lee County Jail indefinitely. If Patillo requests it, the court will set a new bond hearing.
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