Former Fall River mayor Jasiel Correia’s prison report date pushed back again to April 5

Former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia in 2019.Philip Marcelo/Associated Press

Former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia on Thursday was granted another delay in reporting to federal prison to begin serving a six-year sentence for extorting bribes from marijuana companies vying to open dispensaries in his city and for defrauding investors in a smartphone app he helped create.

Judge Douglas P. Woodlock entered an order in US District Court in Boston pushing back the report date for Correia, a 30-year-old former rising star in local Democratic circles, to April 5, legal filings show. He had been slated to report to a federal prison in New Hampshire on Friday.

Woodlock, in granting the reprieve, cited factors including Correia’s pending motion with the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit seeking to remain free while the appeal of his conviction is pending, according to legal filings.

The judge added, however, that the stay of the prison term will not “effectively be open-ended,” as Correia’s attorneys had requested.

Correia’s lawyers wrote in court papers Wednesday that the former mayor was renewing his “suggestion that it would be most efficient simply to stay his surrender pending final resolution of whether he will be permitted to remain on release pending appeal.”

Woodlock disagreed, instead setting the new surrender date of April 5.

Prosecutors had said Wednesday in legal filings that they were opposing Correia’s latest request for a delay in facing his prison sentence, after multiple prior requests were granted for various reasons.

“It is time for Defendant Correia to go to prison,” prosecutors wrote Wednesday. “It has been more than five months since the Court sentenced Correia. In that time, Correia has had ample time to get his affairs in order and confer with his attorneys on potential appellate issues. The holiday rush is over at Correia’s family’s restaurant, COVID-19 is under control and Correia has run out of excuses to avoid prison. The people of Fall River have a right to see their corrupt former mayor finally held accountable for his egregious abuse of his position of trust.”

Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report.