JACKSON – Attorney Robert Arledge was released from federal custody on $50,000 bond Tuesday following an initial appearance in federal court.

He pleaded innocent to an indictment charging conspiracy, mail and wire fraud and money laundering, which carry maximum sentences of five and 10 years respectively, plus fines of up to $250,000 on each of the three charges.

A trial was set for Aug. 8 before U.S. District Judge David Bramlette.

The arraignment came after a weekend-long search for Arledge, who surrendered to federal authorities Monday. Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the Vicksburg native and resident was on an overseas hunting trip when the indictment was announced Friday. Arledge may travel while on bond, but his passport was revoked.

Exiting the courthouse, Arledge, 49, had no comment on the details of the case, referring questions to his attorneys, William Kirksey and Karl Koch.

&#8220These (charges) are all unfounded. He has done nothing wrong,” Kirksey said, walking beside Arledge.

&#8220A lawyer has to depend on the facts the client tells them,” Kirksey said. &#8220No lawyer has got the time to go behind every client.”

Arledge, a onetime judicial candidate in Warren County, is accused of knowingly filing false claims for payment from a settlement pool set up by American Home Products, now Wyeth Pharmaceutical. The company made and distributed the Fen-Phen diet drugs Pondimin and Redux, which were removed from the market in 1997 by the Food and Drug Administration on suspicion of being harmful to people who took them.

The 35-count indictment charges that among legitimate plaintiffs, there were false claimants who shared in more than $8 million resulting from claims based on false information about having taking the prescription drug or its effect on their health. Attorneys in such cases are normally paid their expenses and a contingency fee of at least a third of a client’s share.

Creation of the pool, about $2 billion, followed jury verdicts of $23 million in Texas and a $150 million jury verdict in Jefferson County.

Federal agents seized numerous items Friday from Arledge’s home in Turning Leaf subdivision, off Lee Road, including a motorcycle and more than one oil painting. The indictment lists several items obtained with the hundreds of thousands Arledge secured in fees, including home expenses, charter plane expenses, cars, drapes and football tickets.

Arledge, licensed in 1995, was working for Schwartz and Associates in Jackson, the indictment says, when the false claims were filed and paid. He ran for Warren County judge in 2002, losing to Vicksburg attorney John S. &#8220Johnny” Price Jr., who has since been re-elected to the post.

In addition to running against Price for county judge, Arledge asked then-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove to be appointed Warren County prosecuting attorney to replace Price. He had also qualified to run for county prosecutor but withdrew.

Federal authorities now say 27 people have faced indictment for lying to claim shares of the settlement pool. Almost all have pleaded guilty and been ordered to pay restitution of about $250,000 each.