A trial date for James A. Perry Jr., Wake Forest’s mayor from 1979 through 1983, has been delayed again and is now set for June 8.
          Perry was indicted by a federal grand jury last October on charges of bribery, extortion and perjury. David L. Brady, an associate of Perry’s, was also indicted on the same charges by the grand jury. Both were released on bond. Perry has not yet entered a plea.
          Hart Miles, the Raleigh attorney defending Miles, sent word by his paralegal Monday that he could not comment on the case at this time but did inform the Gazette of the new trial date, which has been set back twice before. Miles has spoken with the Gazette at different times since October.
          The charges against Perry and Brady stem from a federal investigation involving the FBI and other agents that began in 2005 or earlier. The federal grand jury indictments came after Boyce A. Hudson, 67, a former official with the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, pleaded guilty in May 2008 to charges of extortion and money laundering for his efforts to help Perry and Brady’s company obtain environmental permits for an ethanol plant near Beaufort.
          Brady was the president of Agri-Ethanol Products LLC (also named Agri-Ethanol Products NC LLC) and Perry has been called both a company employee and investor.
          From 2001 onward, Perry and his friend and business associate, Wake Forest businessman Thomas R. “Ricky” Wright, the owner of The Electric Motor Shop in Wake Forest and Rocky Mount, have been associated with an effort to build an ethanol plant in eastern North Carolina. Other men named in connection with the venture are Barry Green, who grew up between Wake Forest and Youngsville and has owned several area restaurants, including Thee Dollhouse and the Nineteenth Hole, and Rick Watson, who headed the Northeast Partnership and played an important part in building the Randy Parton Theater in Roanoke Rapids.
          Wright and Green were named as AEP investors in federal court in October.
          There appears to be a possibility Perry and Grady could agree to plea-bargain arrangements to lessen the length of their sentences in light of their ages. Perry was listed as 62 in October and Brady as 75. Perry could receive as much as 45 years in prison if convicted on all counts and given the maximum sentence; Grady could receive as much as 55 years. Miles, however, said earlier that Perry would plead not guilty.
          Perry did agree to a plea bargain in 1999 when he pleaded guilty to receiving stolen goods and conspiracy to commit embezzlement in a South Carolina court. He and three other men all pleaded guilty to bilking a Sumter, S.C., school district out of at least $3.5 million over several years by submitting fake invoices. Perry, who became part of the scam after the other three men, admitted to receiving at least $100,000. His sentence was five years of probation and repayment of the $100,000, which he did.