25-year-old serves time for new conviction in Montgomery Co. while free from jail on bond in Harris Co.
HOUSTON - In 2019, Joshua Ortiz-Lopez was charged with engaging in organized criminal activity.
He bonds out of jail in October 2019 after 263rd Criminal District Court Judge Amy Martin lowers his bond amount to just $15,000.
"That same year, he gets convicted of felony theft in Montgomery County," said Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers. "He was sentenced to a year in jail in Montgomery County. He did however many months in the Montgomery County Jail, while he was on bond in Harris County."
In 2020, Ortiz-Lopez had his bond revoked then reinstated, raised, and lowered four times for the charge of engaging in organized criminal activity.
He picks up new charges including arson and retaliation and racks up a total of seven felony bonds.
"Despite being charged with six offenses while on bond, and being convicted in another county, it defies any semblance of logic," Kahan said.
"That should tell you something. If you're going to prison in Montgomery County, and you're not going to trial until after you get out in Harris County, we are waiting too long to have trials," said Doug Griffith, President of the Houston Police Officers Union.
According to Griffith, the average wait for a defendant to go to trial in Harris County is three to five years.
He says defendants out on multiple felony bonds are becoming more brazen and emboldened.
"Aggravated assaults are up on police officers, our shootings are up on police officers," Griffith said. "I think nine out of the 15 last officer involved shootings we've had, we've been fired upon first. They are brandishing weapons, so we've got all kinds of issues that all relate back to these people being out on multiple felony bonds."