HAMMOND — The brother of a man who committed suicide in jail still must pay the federal government $20,000 for an unsecured bond because the brother failed to show up for his trial, a federal judge has ruled.

In 2005, Toyin Oloko of Chicago put up his house and business to help his brother, Adekunle Odumabo of Lansing, Ill., obtain the unsecured bond. He faced conspiracy and fraud charges for using fraudulent credit cards and fake identification to obtain cash advances at a Gary casino.

Odumabo violated his bond by removing his electronic monitoring device and failing to appear for his trial scheduled to begin Aug. 29, 2005. A warrant for his arrest was issued.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in court documents that when it tried to collect the $20,000, it discovered Oloko’s house was in his wife’s name and his business was not as successful as he indicated. So a judge allowed Oloko to make payments of $100 a month.

Odumabo, who was living in his girlfriend’s basement in Lansing, was arrested on April 26, 2007. U.S. Magistrate Paul Cherry told the U.S. Marshals Service to alert the Lake County Jail that Odumabo made several suicide statements in court and should be monitored accordingly. Odumabo, 39, killed himself four days later after being removed from suicide watch. He used a bed sheet to hang himself inside his cell.

Oloko argued that he should be released from the bond payments because of the hardship he already suffered in the loss of his brother and because not enough was done to keep his brother from committing suicide.

“Is not have a living brother worth more than $20,000.00? Hence, the government, because of lack of care, caused petitioner to lose his brother,” attorney Frederick F. Cohn of Chicago wrote in seeking to have the debt dismissed.

Cherry rejected that argument, saying in his decision May 7 that the loss of his brother was not a significant mitigating factor when considering whether Oloko should be required to continue paying the forfeited bond. He said Odumabo willfully breached the conditions of the bond and that Oloko didn’t help federal agents in their search for Odumabo. He also said the federal government expended considerable time and effort searching for Odumabo.