BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - A former Butte County man who took off from court and is convicted of construction fraud after the Camp Fire was supposed to be sentenced on Wednesday but it was delayed after he fired his attorney.Â
Butte County District Attorney said Kipp Ford fired his attorney Stephana Femino, the woman who was arrested in July for helping her boyfriend remain a fugitive on several felony arrest warrants.Â
Ramsey said Ford claimed Femino’s boyfriend, who remains an inmate at the Butte County Jail, threatened him while they were in the jail. Ford claimed Femino was sharing confidential information with the boyfriend but the deference attorney denied Ford’s claims.Â
Last month, Ford was found guilty of construction fraud, embezzlement, contracting without a license in disaster zones, failing to appear in court and filing false documents with the court.Â
When Ford appeared in court in March, he took off from the courtroom after requesting to speak with his attorney. He was later arrested in Utah when police found him hiding in a cabinet.Â
Ford faces up to nine years in state prison. He is scheduled to be back in court on Nov. 23.
