AUBURN – A man who surrendered to police Monday, after seeing on TV that he was wanted on an aggravated drug trafficking charge, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to that charge.

Wendell Warren White, 43, of Lewiston remained in jail Wednesday afternoon. At his court appearance, an Androscoggin County Superior Court judge reduced his bail from $10,000 cash to $500.

He was indicted in October on a class A felony count of trafficking in cocaine base in February near a school, school bus or so-called safe zone. According to Lewiston police Chief William Welch, “That’s as bad as it gets for drug dealing.”

White, who has been convicted on four drug charges and seven charges of violating conditions of his release in Maine since 2001, appeared in court in a bright orange jail suit, shackled at the ankles, before Justice Thomas Delahanty II.

A prosecutor listed White’s past criminal convictions, including two instances where he failed to appear in court.

White’s attorney, Scott Lynch, sought to have his client released on personal recognizance, noting he had tried to surrender to police after learning of his indictment in early October. Delahanty rejected that argument, citing White’s history of not showing up for his court dates.

Police have disputed statements, made by White to News 13 and the Sun Journal during taping of Monday’s Fugitive Files, that he did not know he was being sought on the warrant.

The warrant was issued Oct. 9 and sealed until Oct. 12. Once the warrant was unsealed, Welch said his department, county police and drug enforcement officers had repeatedly gone to White’s home and to his workplace at Margaritas Mexican Restaurant to make an arrest.

“We’ve gone to his place of work on a number of occasions, and he, in fact, heard about us being there and didn’t come into work on a few occasions knowing that we were looking for him,” Welch said. “I don’t believe for a minute that he tried to turn himself in a month ago as he states.”

White, also known as Melvin Lewis, Melvin Garrison and Bugzy White, told reporters he took exception to being called a “fugitive.”

“You’re a fugitive a day after a warrant comes out,” Welch said. “He is not a victim.”

Welch pointed out that White has an extensive criminal history, including convictions for drug trafficking and other felonies. Police in Lewiston have had contact with White 41 times in recent years, Welch said. Two dozen of those contacts involved criminal activity, he said.

Describing White as a fugitive during the Monday night Fugitive Files broadcast, he said, was appropriate.

According to a clerk at the Androscoggin County Superior Court, White called the court the week of Oct. 8 to check whether a warrant had been issued for his arrest. He was told that there were no warrants because, at the time, the documents charging him with drug trafficking had been sealed at the request of the grand jury.

White also said he went to the jail in the days following his indictment, saying he wanted to turn himself in, but jailers sent him away.

For the past three months, White has been working at Margaritas, which recently moved from Lewiston to Auburn, according to Jamie Parrent, manager of the business.

Parrent said White showed up for work every day in that time and reported there were no problems with his employment. Until the Fugitive Files broadcast, Parrent said he was unaware that White was being sought.

“It was all kind of a surprise to us,” Parrent said.

Welch doubts White was telling a completely truthful account and wondered how much of an effort the suspect made to turn himself over to police.

“What credibility does he have?” Welch said. “I’m frustrated that this guy appears in the paper with a ‘Woe is me’ story. Do you really believe he didn’t know we were looking for him for a month?”

White was one of three men profiled on Monday’s Fugitive Files broadcast.

During that broadcast, police also received information on the whereabouts of two other suspects. By Tuesday night, 24-year-old Lucas Fisher, wanted for theft, had tentatively agreed to turn himself in but has not yet done so. Jose Manny Torres, 36 and wanted for drug trafficking, was said to have been tracked – through a recent car purchase – to California.