BANGOR – The former town manager of Millinocket has asked the court to appoint an attorney to represent him at his upcoming trial, which could take place sometime next month.

James Kotredes, 44, is charged with one count of Class B theft for allegedly using Millinocket town credit cards to steal between $15,000 and $20,000 from the town between 1994 and 1997, while he served as town manager. He pleaded not guilty to the charge in December 2000.

Kotredes, who later served as Brewer’s city manager before resigning that position, represented himself at a pretrial conference hearing Thursday in Penobscot County Superior Court and asked Justice Jeffrey Hjelm for a court-appointed attorney.

He had previously been represented by Ellsworth attorney Daniel Pileggi, but indicated that he could no longer afford his own lawyer.

Also during Thursday’s hearing, Kotredes expressed frustration that the state had not provided him with a specific list of the exact purchases and charges made on the town’s credit card that it was including in its theft case against him.

Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said he was prepared to provide that list to Kotredes by the end of next week.

Almy said there were 37 monthly credit card statements involved in the case.

Initially, Almy said the state’s case involved alleged purchases made by Kotredes between 1995 and 1997. However, Pileggi then requested and received additional documents and credit card records from the town of Millinocket from 1992 and 1994 and Almy said additional “evidence of illegal conduct” was discovered to have occurred between 1994 and 1995. The state alleges that during that time Kotredes illegally received cash advances of $550 on the town’s credit card and made unauthorized purchases of gasoline.

In a letter to Kotredes dated last December, Almy lists numerous “unauthorized” charges made on the town’s credit cards by Kotredes from July 1994 to June 1995.

They include several bills from the former Legends Restaurant in Bangor and Captain Nick’s in Bangor as well as several Bangor and Millinocket motels. Other charges included $114.77 at The Gauntlet and the Holiday Inn in Myrtle Beach, S.C., for about $460.

Almy said he would go through the statements from 1995 and 1997 and detail the allegedly “unauthorized” charges made by Kotredes during that period.

Kotredes complained to the judge that he had originally been told that the state was alleging that all of the charges made on the town’s credit cards during those years were illegal and he said he had spent a lot of time and money preparing for a defense against all of those charges.

“Now, 39 months later, the state says not all the charges are criminal, so I’ve spent a lot of time chasing my tail,” said Kotredes.

Kotredes said he wanted the court to require the town of Millinocket to turn over certain documents that Kotredes believes are relevant to his case.

“They say they are public and I can come in and paw through them like anyone can, but I don’t feel that would be appropriate,” Kotredes said.

Hjelm said that any such request should be made in a written motion and filed with the court so it could be considered.

Kotredes said he anticipated that his trial would be a lengthy one and that he could potentially call 87 witnesses.

Suggesting that he may ask for a continuance, Kotredes indicated that he had a lot of material to go over before he was prepared for trial.

Kotredes could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the Class B theft charge. In December 1998, he served 30 days of a six-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to stealing $11,000 from the Millinocket Youth Hockey Association. Kotredes stole that money while he was town manager in Millinocket from 1993 to 1997. He also was given one year of probation and ordered to repay the money, which he has done.

Kotredes pleaded guilty to that charge while he was the city manager in Brewer. Kotredes resigned that position.