Zachary Police Chief David McDavid is not happy with Judge Trudy White

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Zachary Police Chief David McDavid is fuming and not holding back.

The reason for him being so upset: Why are his officers working so hard to lock people up only to have Baton Rouge judges set extremely low bonds and they're back on the streets in just hours?

"It's like a revolving door and it gets frustrating," Chief McDavid told the 9News Investigators.

Chief McDavid said Albert Franklin, 33, has been a problem for the people of Zachary for quite some time now.

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About a month ago, on November 14, Franklin was pulled over in a traffic stop and officers said they found drugs and a gun.

The 9News Investigators dug into documents about Franklin's arrest. A judge set the bond for every charge.

Possession & Distribution of Manufactured Control Schedule I --- $20,000
Possession & Distribution of Manufactured Control Schedule II --- $20,000
Possession of Firearm with drugs --- $10,000
Felon in Possession of Firearm --- $25,000
Resisting an Officer --- $10,000
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia --- $2,000
Improper Lane Usage --- $500
Failure to Signal --- $500

The total bond was set at $88,000 with one of Judge Trudy White's commissioners signing off after setting the bond.

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The next day, Judge Trudy White went behind the commissioner and amended the bond, reducing the amount on many of those charges.

Possession & Distribution of Manufactured Control Schedule I --- $2,500
Possession & Distribution of Manufactured Control Schedule II --- $2,500
Possession of Firearm with drugs --- $1,000
Felon in Possession of Firearm --- $1,000
Resisting an Officer --- $500
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia --- $500
Improper Lane Usage --- $500
Failure to Signal --- $500

The total dropped from $88,000 to $9,000.

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"Usually, you see judges tweaking the amount up or down a little bit, usually down, but this amount is dramatic," Dane Ciolino, a Loyola University Professor who teaches legal ethics, told the 9News Investigators. "It's not uncommon at all for judges to reduce bonds. That is a fairly typical event in the Louisiana criminal justice system. What's unusual and somewhat striking in this case is how much the bond was reduced."

It was reduced by $79,000.

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Just two weeks later, on November 28th, Zachary police arrested Franklin again. This time for illegal possession of a stolen firearm. His bond was set at $5,000 by a different judge, Judge Anderson, but there was a note reading "notify Judge White of new arrest"

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When he was arrested in the traffic stop earlier in November, Franklin had someone else in the car with him, Lana Rainwater, who was also arrested on drug and gun charges. Her total bond was set at $46,000 for those four charges.

"If there's good reason to reduce his bond, then there's certainly good reason to reduce hers," Ciolino said.

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9NEWS: “The other person who was arrested with him, her bond was not reduced?”

CHIEF MCDAVID: “No, her bond is still at $46,000. That's Ms. Rainwater. I don't understand why that wasn't reduced.”

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Well that certainly raises questions because unless there's some major disparity between these co-defendants, for example, unless one of them has a significant criminal record that the other one does not have, unless one of them presents a greater risk of flight than the other, the bonds should really roughly be the same if they're charged with the same offenses," Ciolino said.

The 9News Investigators did not find any previous arrests in Louisiana for Rainwater, but Franklin has been arrested five times just this year alone. Before the two November arrests, he was picked up in September for possession of drugs and traffic charges with his bond set at $3,500 by Judge Trudy White.

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