The felonious friend of a Family Court judge, who was a fugitive last month after he failed to turn himself in at jail, was back in court Wednesday.

This time, District Judge Elizabeth Halverson ordered 49-year-old Thomas Cecrle held without bail.

Cecrle is the former brother-in-law of Judge Steven Jones, whose campaign finance reports show a decade's worth of financial ties between the two.

On Feb. 7, Halverson gave Cecrle two weeks to begin serving a 90-day sentence for attempted possession of methamphetamine.

Prosecutors had reduced his methamphetamine possession charge in exchange for his guilty plea.

At that hearing last month, Cecrle's lawyer, Jeanne Winkler, told Halverson that Cecrle needed a delay in the start of his sentence because he needed to complete a business deal that would provide him with the money he owed to investors.

After the sentencing, in an effort to withdraw his original guilty plea and set a trial date, Winkler filed an affidavit saying she failed to properly advise Cecrle he could do time for the crime.

A bench warrant was issued for Cecrle on Feb. 21 and authorities arrested him six days later.

Authorities said they found Cecrle in the bathroom of a Henderson motel with drugs and drug paraphernalia.

A Henderson detective told prosecutor Roy Nelson that the arresting officers found two vials of methamphetamine but said the amount has not been determined.

As of Wednesday, the Henderson police department had yet to charge Cecrle with possession of the methamphetamine that they said was in his hotel room.

But even without any additional charges, Cecrle now could be sentenced to a much longer term than his original 90 days.

If Halverson decides to revoke his probation at a hearing next month, she could sentence him to 12 to 30 months behind bars, Nelson said.

Halverson is set to consider revoking Cecrle's probation at an April 4 hearing.

On Wednesday, Cecrle's third attorney to take his case in less than 30 days, Richard Schonfeld, who was standing in for David Chesnoff, said Cecrle's case could still be appealed.

He asked for Halverson to set bail for Cecrle at $15,000.

"When someone does time if he wasn't supposed to do it, it can't be given back to him," Schonfeld said.

Halverson scoffed at the request for bail.

"We had to go chase him down, so do you really think I'm going to give him bail right now? Absolutely not," she said.