Floyd Jay Mann, the Puyallup, WA man convicted of scamming some $3 million out of more than a dozen people, many from Dillingham, may not face his sentence as soon as expected.
In July Jay Mann pleaded guilty to all 19 counts against him, but he has been free on bail almost the entire time since he was indicted on the charges in 2016.
That has irked the federal prosecutor in charge of the case, who has unsuccessfully sought his remand several times over the past year. U.S. attorney Aunnie Steward brought to light Mann's drug abuse and failure to follow through on court-ordered treatment. She has also asked the federal judges to think of the victims, who wonder why the man who connived them out of their lifesavings and gambled it away has gone on with life as usual, even after his conviction.
Now Steward is seeking to block a defense request to push Mann’s sentencing from December to February. In a motion filed this week, she argued that the date was already pushed back months longer than it needed to be, and that some of the witnesses and victims who may testify are elderly. The main victim has already died.
"Further delay," she wrote, "benefits the defendant at the expense of justice being served. The longer the defendant’s malingering is allowed the higher likelihood that victims will no longer be available.”
Steward has asked the original sentencing dates of December 11-12 be kept "to ensure that the interests of justice are served."
It's not yet known if the judge will find in the prosecutor’s favor here, or continue the confusing trend of extending sympathy to the infamous drug-abusing, slot-pulling Dillingham scammer.
dave@kdlg.orgor 907-842-5281