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A Bay City man, who was convicted of murdering a man in Tennessee years ago, has been accused of another crime, according to MLive. This time, without any bloodshed.
50-year-old Thomas E. “Big Tank” Kotewa was arrested on May 10 on charges of third-degree retail fraud and resisting or obstructing police. Before that, he was charged with possessing narcotics, felon in possession of ammunition, and having an open alcohol container in a vehicle. A $450 bond was posted on Kotewa's behalf on June 1 and the man walked free.
“He used a credit card to bond himself out,” Undersheriff Mike Gomez explained. “When he got out, he promptly contacted his credit card company and said there was a false charge. They nullified the payment. He basically used a financial transaction device to escape from jail without a bond.”
Gomez said that they didn't discover the bond was never actually paid until Kotewa was out for just over a month.
“He knows he nullified that charge,” the undersheriff continued. “It’s not like he didn’t have enough money on it.”
Saginaw County District Judge Terry L. Clark arraigned Kotewa on July 14 on new counts of escape while awaiting trial on a misdemeanor and false pretenses between $200 and $1,000. He's due to appear in court on his recent escape charge July 25.