The Jasiel Correia corruption case is nearly over. One more defendant will be sentenced.

BOSTON — The last of the five defendants in the notorious fraud and corruption case of former Fall River mayor Jasiel Correia II was set for sentencing this week, but for the 10th time Westport resident and local businessman David Hebert received a delay from learning his fate.

Hebert has had 11 sentencing dates since he pleaded guilty to charges of extortion and other crimes in September 2019.

Hebert, owner of the real estate company Hanover Properties, made a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in September 2019, when a grand jury handed up an indictment against him on counts of extortion conspiracy, extortion and making false statements to the federal government.

At the same time, his co-defendants and Fall River residents Tony Costa and Hildegar Camara made similar plea agreements. Both are currently serving yearlong sentences of home confinement.

Costa has also paid $107,000 in forfeiture money, according to court records.

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Correia’s former campaign manager and chief of staff Genoveva Andrade also entered into a plea agreement in March with the feds, after her first deal fell through when federal Judge Douglas Woodlock rejected the agreement. She is also serving a sentence of 12 months home confinement and was given a $50,000 fine.

As of Friday, Correia has served exactly one month of his ordered six-year sentence in the Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in Berlin, New Hampshire. He is appealing his conviction. He will likely serve a little more than five years in prison.

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Why all the sentencing delays?

After signing the plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Hebert was originally set for sentencing in December 2019.

As part of his agreement with the federal government, Herbert was to continue to cooperate in the case against Correia and Andrade, who were indicted on corruption charges in September 2019 as well. Correia had been indicted 10 months earlier for wire fraud related to his smartphone app company, SnoOwl.

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Then the COVID pandemic began in March 2020, and Correia’s trial was delayed until April 2021.

Unlike Costa and Camara, Hebert and Andrade never testified for the government at Correia’s trial.

The latest delay

Hebert’s 11th court date for sentencing was scheduled for May 18. According to a recent motion filed by his defense attorney, Bradford Bailey, the lawyer apparently mistakenly marked his calendar for sentencing for mid-July.

“As a result, he has not yet begun the drafting of a comprehensive sentencing memo for this case which, of necessity, involves, inter alia, the careful review of, and culling from, the defendant’s extensive medical history, as well as the incorporation and integration of the multiple letters of support ('LOS') from family, friends, and former business associates which the defendant has obtained for submission to this Honorable Court. Given all attendant circumstances, the importance of a sentencing memo cannot be understated in this case,” wrote Bailey.

The government agreed to a delay and federal Judge Rya W. Zobel rescheduled the hearing until June 15 in an in-person-only court event.

Zobel is the only other federal judge besides Woodlock involved in the Correia corruption case.

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Hebert’s Correia connection

While he didn’t testify in Correia’s criminal trial, he had, at one point, a very close relationship with the city’s former mayor — not just as co-defendant, but a strident political pal to Fall River’s youngest mayor and his landlord.

At trial, it was revealed that Correia never paid Hebert rent for his third-floor apartment in the building on the corner of Bank and Purchase streets, which was formerly a basketball court in the former Elks lodge.

The landlord/tenant relationship likely soured after a Bristol County sheriff delivered paperwork to Correia’s apartment that he had to vacate the premises.

The paperwork was dated Oct. 11, 2018, the same day Correia had been arrested at a Bridgewater residence and later arraigned on 13 counts of defrauding investors and the IRS.

Hebert pleaded guilty to helping Correia in a scheme to extort about $600,000 from marijuana companies looking to do business in the city in the early days of legal recreational and medical marijuana.

During Correia’s monthlong trial last May, business owner Matthew Pichette testified that he entered into a bribery agreement, brokered by Hebert, a longtime acquaintance.

Pichette testified he met with Hebert at the Old Firehouse Smoke Shop on Rock Street and was asked to give $25,000 to Correia's legal defense fund. Pichette said he eventually agreed to this $25,000 because, "I expected there was no other way to get the letters."

In addition to his part of the scheme to extort money from Pichette, Pichette's brother would forgive a mortgage on one of Hebert's properties valued at around $60,000.

The federal government previously filed a motion indicating they would be seeking that the $60,000 be forfeited as part of Hebert’s sentencing ruling.

Jo C. Goode may be reached at jgoode@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism and subscribe to The Herald News today!

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: David Hebert, Jasiel Correia corruption defendant, to be sentenced