CHARLOTTE — A new sentencing date has been set for a Salisbury man who pleaded guilty to money laundering and was arrested again following a brief standoff with police in January.
John Knox Bridges skipped his January sentencing hearing nearly a year after he admitted to taking $2.3 million from longtime friends and coworkers. He is expected to be sentenced March 12.
Bridges didn’t show for his Jan. 25 hearing in U.S. Federal Court in Charlotte.
A court official said the absence could cost Bridges years in prison.
He was initially expected to spend between 57 and 71 months in prison and pay full restitution to his victims. Bridges now could face the maximum 30-year sentence.
The day after his disappearance Salisbury Police arrested Bridges in the basement bathroom of his Maupin Avenue church.
He was found with a shotgun and a note, a prosecutor later said.
Bridges stole hundreds of thousands from childhood friends, authorities said, and duped investors into dumping money in a fake business.
Bridges is also accused of taking $600,000 from the North Carolina Transportation Museum Foundation where he was serving as a member of the board.
The new hearing will be in the U.S. Federal courthouse at 401 W. Trade St. in Charlotte at 9:30 a.m.