Robert Warney

Third time's the charm? The sentencing for a former Hamilton township administrator who plead guilty to a federal corruption charge has been bumped back well into spring.

Rob Warney, the town's former director of Community Planning and Compliance, was scheduled to be sentenced on one charge of money laundering, which carries up to 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine, back in October.

But that was moved to December, then to January and now to March 7. William Hughes, Warney's attorney, said Warney's testimony against his erstwhile "best friend," former Hamilton Mayor John Bencivengo has helped push back his sentencing.

The former mayor, found guilty of five charges related to a case involving the local school board, will be sentenced Feb. 27. Hughes said cooperating witnesses, such as Warney, generally do not face their sentencing until after the "principal in the case:" Bencivengo.

"It doesn’t change anything," Hughes said. "Rob Warney faces what he is going to face."

Still working on comment from the US Attorney's Office on this, but Hughes basically took it as a procedural step.