Sentencing delayed: Dancer suffers heart attack

Ten weeks after William Dancer was convicted of embezzling more than $400,000, he has received a second sentencing continuance – this time because he reportedly suffered a heart attack.

Dancer’s attorney, Scott Hilderman, filed a motion Tuesday to continue his sentencing, which was scheduled for Thursday.

“The reason for this motion is that the undersigned received a telephone call earlier today from defendant’s wife, Maria Dancer, who stated that William had a heart attack and was in the Intensive Care Unit at the Holy Family Hospital in Spokane, Wash.,” read Hilderman’s motion.

Hilderman included a letter written by the director of social services at Holy Family Hospital that stated that Dancer was admitted Tuesday and that he was “critically ill in our Intensive Care Unit.”

The three-sentence letter did not mention his specific health problems.

District court judge Michael Prezeau granted the continuance and scheduled a status conference Dec. 21 to determine Dancer’s health condition and how to continue forward.

Dancer was convicted of three counts of felony theft by embezzlement at his retrial last September for pocketing customer payments intended for his former employer, Sagle, Idaho-based Independence Home Center Inc.

Prezeau granted Hilderman’s first motion to continue last month, moving Dancer’s sentencing from Nov. 13 to Dec. 10, in order to give the defense more time to respond to the pre-sentence investigation, a report prepared by the county that suggests a sentence.