Tennessee- An owner of two downtown strip clubs, who ignored a judge’s order to shut the businesses down, was jailed this week for criminal contempt, city officials said Tuesday.

Lance Lester, who owns the now-shuttered Club Platinum and Brass Stables, was booked into the Metro Jail on Monday after Metro General Sessions Judge Gloria Dumas ordered him jailed for 10 days and set his bail at $1.5 million.

He was able to bond out of jail Tuesday after his lawyers appealed the judge’s decision to the Davidson County Circuit Court. Circuit Court Judge Walter Kurtz reduced the bail to $2,000, said Dale Quillen, one of Lester’s lawyers.

The high bail set by Dumas a day earlier forced Lester to spend the night in the county lockup.

“We didn’t request that particular bond, but I think the judge was just very frustrated that her orders were not followed repeatedly, and I understand her frustration,” said Metro Legal Director Karl Dean.

Lester, 42, and the city’s lawyers have squared off in court repeatedly over the clubs’ refusal to obtain licenses under Metro’s recently enacted ordinance regulating adult entertainment. Dumas ordered the businesses closed in June.

Police padlocked the Hayes Street doors of Club Platinum earlier this month after undercover officers said it was defying the judge’s order. Club Platinum officials at the time insisted that it was no longer sexually oriented.

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court trustee padlocked the Brass Stables in historic Printers Alley weeks earlier as part of a bankruptcy case.