MEMPHIS, Tenn. — On Tuesday, Tremaine Wilbourn was back where he spent almost 10 years: in jail.
After doing time for a bank robbery, he was given a second chance as long as he kept clean.
No guns.
No drugs.
When he checked in for his regular probation drug test last December, Wilbourn failed.
The U.S. Probation Office would not discuss his case but said failing a drug test on parole did not automatically mean you would be locked up again.
“If we did that for every single violator or every single offender, there is just not jail space,” Chief Dan Kilgore with the U.S. Probation Office said.
Memphis’ federal probation chiefsaid there were often alternatives to jail time.
“We have location monitoring tools. We can place people in a halfway house. We could increase contact,” Kilgore said.
Last month, Wilbourn was mandated to get mental health treatment, one form of dealing with probation violation. On Facebook, Wilbourn even posted about being diagnosed.
WREG was told that since Wilbourn did not have any other positive drug tests, the therapy was apparently working.
That was until Saturday night when he encountered Memphis Police Officer Sean Bolton, and something went terribly wrong.
Neighbors who have known Wilbourn since he was a child were happy he turned himself in, because it might have saved his life.
They said the man facing murder charges is not the man they know.
“I know he is a respectable young man. He came to our church a couple of times. He came up for prayer,” neighbor Rose Sims said. “I just prayed and asked God to let him turn himself in, which he did, and I am so thankful of that.”
Wilbourn’s bond was set at just under $10 million. He will be in court Wednesday at 9:00 a.m.
