BATON ROUGE – A convicted sex offender who, in a high-profile arrest, was facing charges of re-offending while pretending to be a police officer bonded out of jail Tuesday.

Mark Russell was being held on a $285,000 bond. Jail records indicated he was able to bond out at some point Tuesday through a bail bondsman.  In most cases, a person must secure 10% of the bond and the bail bondsman's agency will charge a fee, sometimes adding an extra 2-3%. Specifics of Russell's bond release were not released as of this updated post.   

While he's out of jail, Russell must wear an ankle monitor and will remain under house arrest. Furthermore, he's not allowed to contact the victim, nor is he allowed to leave the parish.

Russell was arrested in April. WBRZ.com was first to report Russell was booked into Parish Prison on counts of rape, false imprisonment and impersonating a police officer.

Baker Police Chief Carl Dunn said Russell was driving what appeared to be an unmarked police car when he stopped a man, convinced the victim to go back to his house and allegedly sexually assaulted him there.

Russell was originally given a bond of $13,000 but immediately questions were raised about the perceived low amount.

Following extensive reporting by the WBRZ Investigative Unit, Russell was booked back into jail on the much higher bond amount.

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