Former Stonecrest Mayor Jason Lary did not report to federal prison in Alabama last week as previously scheduled.
A judge signed off on a request delaying his imprisonment until Jan. 10, citing the ex-official’s ongoing cancer-related treatment.
Lary pleaded guilty in January to fraud and theft charges stemming from a scheme to pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars of Stonecrest’s federal COVID-19 relief funds. In July, he was sentenced to serve 57 months in prison, but a judge deferred his report date to Dec. 15.
Lary has battled prostate cancer and his attorney, Dwight Thomas, said he needed ongoing treatment until then.
The original report date having passed last week, several local residents and officials raised questions after the former mayor was purportedly spotted at a Friday evening event for an incoming Stonecrest city councilmember.
Court records showed the new January date was approved late last month.
Thomas wrote in the extension request that Lary had “experienced painful swelling from a post-cancer condition of lymphedema” and provided a doctor’s affidavit saying the therapy needed to address the issue would run through Jan. 9.
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