Sentencing was delayed until mid-November for a Lawrence man who pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of mail fraud in a scheme that allowed him to collect more than $650,000 from false expense claims.

Gene Abernathy admitted in June that he committed the crime while he was employed during March 1999 to February 2002 as an institutional sales representative for Pharmacia Corp., now Pfizer.

At the request of the defense, the judge earlier this week agreed to postpone Abernathy’sB sentencing until Nov. 14. Prosecutors didn’t object to the delay, said Jim Cross, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas.

Abernathy faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution of $686,905.