When federal marshals arrived at the home of a former Cartersville mayoral candidate awaiting trial in a fraud case, they said they found a shooting blind erected in his front yard.

When the defendant was arrested, authorities said they found a loaded semiautomatic weapon and several thousand dollars of cash in his possession.

Howard Gregory Cordell, 44, of 127 Mitchell Ave. in Cartersville, was in the Floyd County Jail late Thursday but was released to the custody of the U.S. Marshals. Cordell had been released on bond in 2009 after pleading not guilty to multiple counts of fraud. He was awaiting a Sept. 13 trial when he was placed back into the custody of federal marshals.

According to a motion to deny bond submitted to U.S. District Court on Friday:

On Wednesday, law enforcement authorities learned Cordell told his doctor he was consuming 10 alcoholic drinks a day and felt stressed about his upcoming trial — and wanted to kill the people involved in prosecuting him.

Cordell was originally accused of defrauding lenders by using money to purchase luxury vehicles and an airplane. According to his indictment, Cordell took out a $937,000 loan from Washington Mutual Bank to purchase the residence in March 2000. The defendant then obtained another mortgage in August 2004 in the amount of $1,000,000 to refinance the purchase of the same home. Cordell is accused of falsely inflating his annual income to obtain these loans.

According to a motion to deny bond, when police arrived at his home Thursday night to interview him about the comments made to his doctor, marshals found what appeared to be a hunting blind erected in the front yard.

Authorities determined that it would be safer to interview the defendant away from his home and orchestrated a traffic stop near Cordell’s home. When marshals stopped Cordell, they found a loaded semiautomatic pistol wedged between the driver’s seat and center console of his pickup truck. He also had a bag that contained approximately $7,000 in cash.

 U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates argued in the motion to deny bond that Cordell demonstrates that he is a danger to the community and his conduct demonstrates his unwillingness to show up at his Sept. 13 trial.

Judge Harold L. Murphy on Friday decided not to hear the bond motion in his Rome courtroom and referred it to a magistrate judge in Atlanta because that judge is overseeing the fraud case.

“It is better that I not hear this matter,” Murphy said.