The embattled head of the Shelby County Office of ReEntry and his wife remain in jail almost a month after their joint indictment late last month.

DeAndre Brown and Vinessa Brown were arrested Wednesday, Aug. 27, on multiple charges of computer crimes, money laundering and theft related to the alleged mishandling of money they received for their nonprofit Lifeline to Success.

The Browns were back in court Friday, Sept. 19, for an unusually long bond hearing that was ultimately recessed until next week, leaving them in custody for the time being. 

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DeAndre Brown initially had his bond set at $1 million, and Vinessa Brown had her bond set at $300,000. However, a judge lowered both of those bonds shortly after their indictment to $100,000 each. 

They were reinstated to the original amounts after a request from prosecutor Meghan Fowler and a bond hearing was scheduled for Friday.

Dozens of supporters for the Browns packed the courtroom and the hallway outside Friday, including Shelby County Commissioner Charlie Caswell and Lifeline employees clad in their unmistakable neon green shirts.

Attorneys for the Browns asked Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee, who is overseeing their cases, to release them on their own recognizance, meaning without paying bond.

They relied on testimony from multiple witnesses who spoke to their relationships with the Browns and the work they have done in the community over the last almost two decades.

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“I’m concerned about the safety of our community if the Browns are not released from custody,” said Bob Nardo, founder of local charter school Libertas, of which Vinessa Brown is the board chair. 

Nardo said the Browns and their work are “essential” to the “health, safety and thriving” of the Frayser neighborhood where Lifeline is headquartered.

But Fowler questioned those witnesses’ knowledge of the financial workings of Lifeline, which is at issue in the case against the Browns. They are accused of using grant funds to the nonprofit between at least 2020 and 2024 for personal use like vacations, personal car payments and personal compensation for working at Lifeline. 

“Would you agree with the statement that good people can do bad things?” Fowler asked Nardo. 

“Sure,” he said. 

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Fowler also called Charles Grove, the senior investigator at the Tennessee Office of the Comptroller that authored the original report that led to the Browns’ indictments.

Grove testified that a majority of Lifeline’s funding came from several sources, including the City of Memphis, Shelby County government and even another local nonprofit, Youth Villages.

Grove said that Vinessa Brown admitted to misusing the funds when questioned during the investigation.

But under questioning from the Browns’ attorneys, Grove also admitted that much of the funds they received during the investigation period, around $2 million, were unrestricted funds, meaning there weren’t strict parameters around how the money could be used. He said that grantors assumed the money would go toward the “mission and purpose” of Lifeline.

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He also admitted that the funds could be used to pay Lifeline employees, although he disputed whether that also meant the Browns could pay themselves for working there.

The Browns will be back in court before Coffee Sept. 23 to finish out the bond hearing.