Ken Sharp, a former Kent City Council member, had a King County Superior Court hearing continued to May 7 as he faces first-degree theft charges.
A scheduled vacation by defense attorney Mark Prothero was one reason for the delay.
“There were still a couple of things the prosecutor and I had to review,” Prothero said in an email about the continuance of the case from April 16.
An exchange of thousands of pages of records between prosecutors and Prothero also has delayed the case. Once both sides are ready to go to trial, a judge can set a trial date.
Sharp, who owns Minuteman Press in Kent, faces seven counts of first-degree theft for reportedly stealing $297,500 from his 93-year-old mother’s bank account and putting the money into his account. If convicted as charged, Sharp faces a prison sentence of 22 to 29 months. Sharp pleaded not guilty to the charges in August.
Sharp resigned in January after only two weeks in office because of the pending theft charges. He narrowly defeated Bailey Stober in the November election despite reports of the theft charges.
King County prosecutors filed charges in August against Sharp. Federal Way Police arrested him in June for investigation of theft. His mother lived in Federal Way at the time of the alleged theft.
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