NATCHEZ — The former Adams County employee accused of embezzling $165,000 from the juvenile justice center will remain free on bond after complying with a judge’s order Wednesday evening.

Charles Kevin Nations, 48, was ordered by Judge Al Johnson last week to post a $20,000 bond by Wednesday if he wanted to stay outside bars while awaiting trial.

According to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office’s online jail roster, Nations was booked at 9:50 p.m. Wednesday and released at 10:06 p.m. after posting the bond.

An ACSO spokesperson said Nations walked into the jail of his own volition.

Nations had previously been free on a $50,000 recognizance bond, which meant he did not have to post any bond money upfront but would have been liable for the entire sum if he had failed to show up to court.

At the time Johnson gave the order, the judge said the matter was too serious for Nations to be free on his signature alone.

Attorney Kevin Colbert was appointed to defend Nations at the Nov. 26 hearing.

Colbert said the matter would likely get a trial date set during the March term of the court.

“We are still waiting for discovery (of the state’s evidence), so we are just waiting to get started at this point,” Colbert said.

The court has set a deadline of Jan. 12 for the state to provide its evidence to the defense.

The order also sets a date to end any plea-bargaining at March 9.

The case is being prosecuted by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.

Nations is accused of diverting checks to the juvenile justice center — of which he was the administrator — before Adams County’s bookkeeping department received them for deposit.

The indictment of one count embezzlement by a public employee filed against him late last month alleged Nations used a county-owned Concordia Bank to convert the county funds to his own use.

Nations resigned the administrator’s position in July, approximately three weeks before he was arrested for the alleged embezzlement.

Adams County Board of Supervisors’ Attorney Scott Slover said last week the county’s errors and omission insurance policy allowed the county to recover $100,000 of the funds.

The remaining balance would likely have to be recovered through litigation, Slover said.