Convicted Ex-Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia Asks To Push Surrender Date To January

BOSTON (CBS) -- Former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia, who was found guilty on federal fraud and extortion charges earlier this year, is asking to move his surrender date until after the new year. He was sentenced in September to six years in prison.

Correia was supposed to surrender on Dec. 3, but is now asking to push it back to Jan. 3, 2022.

In his request to Judge Douglas Woodlock, Correia says he needs to help his wife and in-laws run their business through Christmas and New Year's.

The 29-year-old was originally convicted on 21 counts, including extortion, wire fraud, and filing false tax returns during a trial in May. During sentencing, Woodlock threw out 10 of the 21 counts due to insufficient evidence.

Prosecutors said Correia stole money from investors in his app and solicited bribes from marijuana vendors seeking to do business in Fall River to fund his lavish lifestyle.

The prosecution said on Thursday that they oppose the idea of moving his surrender date back.

"A thirty-day extension is unnecessary to rehash arguments that the defendant has raised previously in seeking bail pending appeal, and which the government dismisses," wrote U.S. Attorneys Nathaniel Mendell, Dustin Chao, and David Tobin. "In a case where this Court has called Correia's conduct 'the most fundamentally corrosive crime a community faces,' it's time for Jasiel Correia to pay his debt to society and the citizens of Fall River."

The court has ordered Correia to repay investors of the app a total of a little over $300,000.