MARION COUNTY — A 30-year-old Centralia man was returned to Taylorville Correctional Center Thursday, following a court hearing on multiple felony cases in Marion County.

TJ Howard appeared in court Thursday in custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections. He was scheduled for a pre-trial hearing on separate outstanding felony cases from 2013, 2014, 2015 and three from 2016.

Howard also has outstanding DUI cases from 2011, 2012, and two from 2013.

A defense motion Thursday seeking to continue the case was granted, and a jury trial date was set for April 17 on all outstanding cases. He’s scheduled to be paroled May 12 on the first conviction from his string of charges.

Howard made headlines over the summer after an alleged failure of a court-ordered drug test put him back in the Marion County Jail with bail increased by $1 million.

He had previously been granted bail in seven felony and four DUI cases, having posted nearly $58,000 in cash bond just since September 2015.

Howard is currently serving a two-year prison sentence on one of those cases. After less than 10 minutes of deliberation, a Marion County jury found him guilty in July in a 2012 case charging him with damaging a Centralia Police car. At that time a charge of felony aggravated battery in a public place was dismissed.