Former Zeigler City Treasurer Ryan Thorpe did not get a chance to plead guilty on charges of wire fraud and embezzlement Thursday in federal court in Benton. Instead, the court delayed the plea hearing until March 1 at 9 a.m.

Thorpe’s defense attorney said his motion for continuance was simple – his client needed more time to understand the charges against him. A U.S. government representative did not object to the motion to continue so long as a jury date was also continued and that the added time did not count against the speedy trial calculation. That’s according to the Southern Illinoisan.

A federal grand jury indicted Thorpe in October on three counts of wire fraud and two counts of embezzlement from a local government.

The FBI raided Thorpe’s home and office last August, and an auditor’s report found he had written hundreds of city checks to himself since 2013. He allegedly stole $315,000 from the city from March 2013 until last August.

Prosecutors say he covered up the thefts by altering copies of checks in city records to show approved vendors names.