Former oilfield mogul Mark Knight was booked and bonded out of the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center Monday, nearly a week after a grand jury indicted him and three alleged co-conspirators on racketeering and drug charges in connection with what police have said was a plot to have Knight’s brother, Bryan, arrested on drug charges in 2014 in an effort to force Bryan Knight out of the family company, Knight Oil Tools.
Knight’s latest quick entrance and exit from the parish jail has some in the legal community scratching their heads because when the indictment was released last week the warrants signed by 15th Judicial District Court Commissioner Thomas Frederick indicated in Frederick’s own handwriting that the defendants “may use originally posted bail, if bondsman agrees to stay on bond.”
Knight’s original bond when he was arrested last April was $100,000, yet Knight on Monday posted a $25,000 bond and was released. One source close to the case says this might be because last week’s indictment added a drug charge to the original charge of racketeering facing Knight and his alleged co-conspirators: former Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Kinch, former State Trooper Corey Jackson and ex-Knight Oil Tools employee Russell Manuel.
Another source speculates it's a case of "overzealous prosecution."
Read the backstory on Knight’s arrest here.