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Judge grants request to delay start of prison sentence for former Rep. Duncan Hunter

Rep. Duncan Hunter walks into a federal courthouse in San Diego on Dec. 3, 2019. (Credit: Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images)

A federal judge on Thursday granted a request by the federal government and a lawyer for former Rep. Duncan Hunter to move his date to surrender for his prison sentence until as late as Jan. 4, in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In the order, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for Southern California, Judge Thomas J. Whelan granted the request based on a finding that uncertainty surrounding the pandemic was good cause for delaying Hunter’s surrender until “on or before Jan. 4, 2021,” at 12 p.m., according to court records.

Hunter was scheduled to surrender later this month to begin his 11-month prison sentence for conspiring to illegally convert more than $150,000 in campaign money to personal use.

Hunter pleaded guilty to the single felony count in December, and prosecutors dropped the remaining 59 charges in the indictment filed against him and his wife and former campaign manager, Margaret, in August 2018.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.