William Bates Colvin: Judge’s Son Made $200K Selling Cocaine From Evidence Vault

William Bates Colvin, the son of Louisiana District Judge Kay Bates, earned more than $200,000 from the cocaine that he stole from an evidence vault while on the job with the East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court’s Office.

That’s the latest figures on what Colvin made from selling the stolen drugs, according to court papers filed late last week.

As WVUE Fox 8 briefly summarizes the case, William Bates Colvin and five other people involved in the alleged drug-selling ring were indicted last month. About 22 kilograms of cocaine vanished from the evidence locker over a four-month period.

The case is creating a real problem for the Louisiana justice system. As the son of a judge and a former clerk, Colvin knows a lot of influential people.

Colvin is now in jail awaiting trial. Earlier this month, WAFB reported that he was caught boasting in jailhouse phone conversations to his girlfriend that he would have a deal because of “certain relationships between certain people.”

Oops.

The case had been assigned to Civil Judge Janice Clark, a colleague of Colvin’s mother Judge Kay Bates.

Now District Attorney Hillar Moore would like the Louisiana Supreme Court to recuse the entire 19th Judicial District Court. A special judge would then need to be appointed from outside.

The new court filings reveal that William Bates Colvin has largely confessed to the crime. In an extensive report in The Advocate, defense attorney Frank Holthaus agreed that, “This guy has already confessed ad nauseum.”

However, the lawyer seemed skeptical of the claims about the big money earned from the cocaine sales. Colvin probably can’t give an accurate account of where the drugs and money went because he himself was on drugs at the time.

Much of the $200,000 is unaccounted for, if it ever existed at all. About $20,000 went on a vehicle, and $30,000 on jewelry.

William Bates Colvin is “not the brightest crayon in the box and that has caused us a lot of trouble,” Holthaus noted.

[photo by Meg007 via Shutterstock]