It wasn’t the Father’s Day Carlos Mencia planned. Instead of spending the holiday with his family, the comedian’s attorney says he sat in a Los Angeles jail cell “very depressed.”
Mencia spent the weekend behind bars following his arrest on Thursday, Jun)for allegedly failing to report $8.7 million in personal and corporate income to the state of California.
The Mind of Mencia star made his first court appearance Monday at the Van Nuys Courthouse in Los Angeles and pleaded not guilty to 12 tax-related felony charges, Courthouse News Service reported.
Video from inside the courtroom showed Mencia dressed in gray sweatpants and a black T-shirt, with his hands cuffed behind his back.
Related: Carlos Mencia Arrested in $8.7M California Tax Evasion Case
He watched closely as the judge in the case agreed to lift a hold on the comedian, which prevented him from posting bail. The judge also granted a defense request to lower Mencia’s bail from $250,000 to $50,000.
Outside court, defense attorney Dana Cole, told reporters Mencia was “very, very depressed.”
“It just didn’t seem like what he did, which isn’t right, that it would warrant what happened here,” Cole said. “It seems like what happened here was just overkill, so to speak, to toss him in jail for an extended period, over a three-day holiday weekend.”
With the courts closed for the Juneteenth holiday on Friday, the Comedy Central star had to wait until Monday to appear before a judge.
“He missed Father’s Day, sitting in jail,” Cole said, “Whether that was calculated, I don’t know.”
A short time after Monday’s hearing, the California Post recorded video of Mencia walking out of the courthouse and getting into a car.
The comedian’s arrest stemmed,, from the first case filed by the new Business Tax Fraud Unit within the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Cole suggested the comedian’s arrest was part of a publicity &stunt by the D.A.’s office to promote its new unit.
“They wanted to make a splash, and they made a splash,” the defense attorney said.
Last week, District Attorney Nathan Hochman held a news conference and alleged the comedian failed to report $3.3 million in personal income and $5.4 million in corporate income for his company Nedlos Entertainment, from 2019 to 2024.
Mencia, born Ned Arnel Holness, owes about $267,594 in personal income taxes and $35,117 in corporate income taxes, Hochman told reporters.
According to the D.A., the California Franchise Tax Board mailed the comedian “78 demand notices” reminding him he had not filed taxes between 2019 and 2024. Yet Hochman said Mencia did not respond.
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