According to an official from the United States District Court’s Northern District of West Virginia office located in Clarksburg, the sentencing date for former Bridgeport Mayor Mario Blount has been pushed back. Initially, Blount was to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Irene M. Keeley Jan. 9. That date has been moved to Feb. 3 at 8:15 a.m.

 

The order for the change does not provide a reason.

 

Blount, a pharmacist, entered guilty pleas on Sept. 12 to the felony offenses of “Conspiracy to Distribute Schedule II Controlled Substances”, “Distribution of Oxymorphone”, and “False or Fraudulent Material Omissions.”  Blount and co-defendants Angela and April Davis were indicted and arrested on June 3. Blount’s arrest came at his place of employment in Weston at that time. Shortly after he was arrested, Blount, 51, pled not guilty at his arraignment. That officially changed in September.

 

The three counts have a combined maximum jail sentence of 44 years, fines of up to $2.5 million and three years of supervised release. However, the maximum on any of the counts is 20 years. As part of the plea, the government and Blount seek to have the terms run concurrently, which means at the same time. That means that if Keeley concurs with the agreement between the government and Blount, the most time he could serve is 20 years.

 

The maximum penalties for the counts Blount pleaded guilty to are: The conspiracy charge has a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine, and three years supervised release. The distribution charge is the same as the conspiracy charge. The materials omission charge is four years in prison, a $500,000 fine and two years of supervised release.

 

Based on Blount’s past lack of criminal activity and the sentencing guidelines, it likely will be less than that. However, Keeley has the final say in that. In the event the final sentence ends up being more than Blount and his legal team anticipates, Blount cannot ask for a trial by jury to remedy that.

 

Click HERE for the original story on Blount’s arrest.

 

Click HERE for the story on Blount's guilty plea.