A federal judge on Monday ordered longtime Alabama Rep. John Rogers to jail for violating his bond by contacting a witness in his bribery case.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Staci Cornelius ordered U.S. Marshals to take Rogers into custody shortly after noon today at the federal courthouse in downtown Birmingham.

A federal grand jury in September charged Rogers, D-Birmingham, with obstruction of justice and obstruction of justice by bribery, alleging that he offered public money to the founder of a nonprofit in exchange for the founder lying to the FBI about a kickback scheme involving public tax dollars. Rogers, 82, has served in the Alabama legislature for more than four decades.

Federal prosecutors last week asked the judge to jail Rogers, alleging that he violated his bond by FaceTime calling the founder of the nonprofit.

“I very plainly and clearly instructed Mr. Rogers that he was to have no contact with anyone associated to his case,” Judge Cornelius said in court today, noting that she listened to an audio recording of Rogers’ arraignment from earlier this month when she explained the conditions of his bail.

She also told Rogers’ attorney, John Robbins, that the court would provide him with copy of the transcript of the arraignment and set a hearing on Thursday afternoon.

Robbins said that Rep. Rogers denies attempting to contact the nonprofit founder, who is identified in court records as “Individual #1.”

“You may certainly present evidence on that at the hearing on Thursday,” Judge Cornelius said.

Speaking on the radio just hours before his court appearance, Rogers denied violating the court order.

“It was an erroneous phone call made by someone,’’ he said on the Gary Richardson Morning Show on WJLD.

Rogers also said on the radio that “Individual #1″ is George Stewart, founder of the American Gospel Quartet Convention.

The indictment says that twice in 2019 Rogers sent money to Organization #1 through the Jefferson County Community Service Fund, a collection of local tax dollars that lawmakers get to hand out to various community groups, causes and local governments.

While court records do not identify Organization #1, the indictment says that Rogers sent the group money from the community service fund in March and November of 2019. And the fund’s records show only one organization Rogers sent money in those months: the American Gospel Quartet Convention.

Stewart, who is listed in federal tax documents as the quartet’s director, declined to comment when contacted by AL.com on Monday morning.

But Rogers’ longtime assistant, Varrie Johnson Kindall, 58, of Chelsea, received a cut of the money by requiring the organization to pay her an “administration fee,” according to the indictment.

That prompted an FBI investigation. And according to the indictment, Rogers then tried to bribe the organization’s founder by offering additional funding from the community service fund, if the founder would lie to the FBI about the payments to Johnson Kindall.

The federal grand jury also charged Johnson Kindall with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, 11 counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, one count of money laundering, one count of obstruction of justice, one count of obstruction of justice by bribery, one count of failure to file tax return, and three counts of aiding preparation of false tax return.

She’s pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Carlos Chaverst of Chaverst Strategies, who identified himself to reporters as a public relations representative of Rep. Rogers, told reporters that Rogers mistakenly called Stewart. He said Rogers intended to call his accountant who also has the last name of Stewart.

”It was an honest mistake,” he said.

Chaverst said that Rogers is expected to be released for Thursday’s hearing.

”He’s a fighter. He’s a true, upstanding man,” he said. “This is not his first rodeo.”

“Rep. Rogers did not knowingly or intentionally try to contact Individual #1,” Robbins told reporters after the hearing. “He’s upset, but he’s going to continue to fight.”

Editor’s note: This breaking news story will be updated.