Man who drove Maserati through house sent back to jail

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A Georgia native accused of driving his Maserati into a South Carolina house, killing the man inside, was returned to police custody Tuesday afternoon, just hours after he was released on bond.

A judge ordered John Ludwig, 36, of Lincolnton to return to the Greenville County jail during an emergency hearing after learning Ludwig made handwritten notes on his bond release papers.

Ludwig, former CEO of Greenville-based SDI Networks, was free for about five hours Tuesday after posting 10 percent of his $300,000 bond. He had been in jail since May 6, when he was charged with murder in the death of 62-year-old Frederic Bardsley.

Circuit Court Judge Eugene Griffith approved Ludwig’s bond on Monday, ordering him to surrender his driver’s license and passport and stay on home confinement each evening, from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. In his three-page order, Griffith said Ludwig has no record of failing to show up for court appearances and has consistently paid his bond on past charges.

But Griffith revoked that bond Tuesday, just hours after Ludwig exited the county jail. When he was released just before noon Tuesday, Ludwig wrote “no electronic monitoring” and “no porch arrest” in the margin of his bond paperwork — comments Griffith found disrespectful.

“My concern is that you don’t respect authority … and I’ve got a solution for that,” Griffith said, in revoking Ludwig’s bond.

During the hearing, Ludwig said he wrote those notes because a jailer mistakenly tried to put an electronic monitoring device on him, which was not a condition of his current bond agreement. Ludwig said he added “no porch arrest” because, while on home confinement previously for an unrelated charge, he was accused of violating that bond while sitting on his porch.

It will be up to another circuit judge to decide if Ludwig has another bond hearing, Griffith said.

Authorities say Ludwig was driving more than 85 mph the night of April 25 when he lost control of his Maserati. The car traveled several hundred feet across a field before plowing into the back of Bardsley’s home, hurtling so forcefully through the two-story house that it came to rest in the front yard. Bardsley’s wife, who was upstairs, was unhurt, and Ludwig suffered minor injuries.

Ludwig’s attorneys have said their client lost control after swerving to miss several deer.

When he was arrested for Bardsley’s death, Ludwig was out on bond on a burglary charge. Authorities said he kicked in the door of a Greenville home last summer and chased a man who was dating his estranged wife. Police records show an officer shocked Ludwig with a stun gun after he refused to cooperate.

Ludwig has also been charged with criminal domestic violence twice in the past six months and was arrested again in August after his wife accused him of making dozens of harassing phone calls.

If convicted of murder, Ludwig, a former Furman football player, could face 30 years to life in prison. His attorney, Kim Varner, did not immediately return a message Monday.