The attorney for a former Bowdon clerk accused of stealing city funds says his client is expected to plead guilty.

Patricia Moore Bentley, 62, represented by public defender Harry Daniels, appeared in a Carroll County courtroom Friday morning.

Daniels requested that Bentley’s case be moved to the judge’s next jury trial week, June 3, so he and the prosecution can “iron out some details.”

Superior Court Judge Bill Hamrick said he will keep it on his trial calendar beginning March 11, and told the attorneys to “shoot for that date.”

Assistant District Attorney Herb Cranford, prosecuting for the state, said the extra time was also requested by the state to work out the same details.

“We need to work out the details so Bowdon will recover as much money as possible,” Cranford said.

Bentley is accused of taking approximately $159,000 in city funds and transferring them into her personal account between June 2011 and June 2012.

Wayne Smith, a special agent in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Columbus office, said Bentley’s arrest was the result of a GBI investigation that began last June at the request of Bowdon police Chief Mark Brock following an annual city audit that found irregularities.

Smith said the misappropriations involved payments collected by the Bowdon city clerk’s office, including “permits, fees and things of that nature” over the past fiscal year.

Bentley is one of two former Bowdon city clerks indicted on charges of theft by taking. Stacy Cato Folds, 42, is also accused of taking city funds.

Folds allegedly took $35,000 from an account used to process fines and court-levied fees. Folds was arraigned last month.

Folds was given a trial date of July 29, to be presided over by Judge John Simpson.