MARION COUNTY — A warrant issued Wednesday in Marion County Court for the arrest of a 26-year-old Centralia man was quashed after he appeared late for a pre-trial hearing in a case charging him with multiple counts of sexual assault.

Jerad Peoples was scheduled in court at 9 a.m. Wednesday and when he did not appear, Judge Allan Lolie issued a warrant for his arrest. Peoples subsequently arrived in court around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, and the warrant was quashed.

Peoples had been released in November after posting $25,000 bond in the case charging him with four Class X felony counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a 6-year-old victim.

He had been in jail at that time since his January 2015 arrest on the charges, and the case had been moving forward toward a jury trial setting.

Despite his attorney’s arguments Wednesday morning that Peoples had appeared at all required court hearings, Lolie noted that other than the last three hearings, the defendant had appeared in custody of the Marion County Sheriff.

Lolie then issued a warrant for Peoples’ arrest and set bail at the original $250,000, or 10-percent cash bond. After Peoples arrived in court later and Lolie quashed the warrant, the judge scheduled an October 19 pre-trial conference, a December 1 final pre-trial hearing, and a December 12 jury trial.