Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - The sentencing hearing for the Rochester man convicted for his role in the death of a Rochester woman in 2022 has been postponed.

Forty-three-year-old Timothy Loftus was scheduled to be sentenced today in Olmsted County Court. He entered into a plea agreement in April, about a week before he was set to stand trial on third-degree murder and a charge of interference with a dead body or scene of death in connection with the disappearance and death of 28-year-old Tia Arleth.

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Under the terms of his plea deal, Loftus entered a guilty plea to the charge of interference with a dead body in exchange for the dismissal of the murder charge. He also admitted to a second-degree drug charge in exchange for the dismissal of charges of illegal possession of a firearm, fifth-degree drug possession, and fleeing police in a separate 2022 case.

Olmsted County ADC

The criminal complaint against Loftus in the Arleth death case indicated that she was last seen alive in late May 2022 and was reported missing about two weeks later. The court document says investigators later learned that she had been dropped off at Loftus's home in Rochester on May 29, and a review of phone records determined that her cell phone remained at that location until it apparently ran out of power a couple of days later.

READ MORE: Plea Agreement Announced in 2022 Rochester Murder Case

The charges included a statement from a witness who told Rochester police that Loftus had confided in him that Arleth died after he provided her with opioids. The young woman's body was discovered in June 2022 in a farm field east of Rochester.

A filing in Olmsted County Court indicates a sentencing hearing for Loftus has been scheduled for the afternoon of August 18. His plea agreement calls for a 100-month prison sentence.

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