On Tuesday, Maple Ridge Township Supervisor John Male, 72, failed to appear in court for one charge of trespassing.

According to a statement to The News by his attorney Dave Funk on Wednesday, Male was unaware that he was scheduled to appear that day. The bench warrant issued by the court Tuesday will be addressed at Male’s next hearing on Feb. 25.

Tuesday’s hearing pertained to a trespassing charge for which Male was slated to appear for an incident that occurred on June 20.

Funk said he became aware of the complaint of trespass against Male on Feb. 11 and found out that the matter had been docketed for status conference on Tuesday by reading about it in The News.

Despite the fact that the court had properly mailed the summons and complaint to Male for the trespassing charge, the defendant asserts he was unaware of that fact, unaware of the complaint itself, and unaware that it had been docketed for Tuesday and therefore failed to appear, according to Funk’s statement

Accordingly, when Funk learned of the existence of the newer trespass charge he caused Male’s appearance to be filed on Wednesday and presented that appearance personally to the court.

Male will next be in court at 1:45 p.m. on Feb. 25 for a status conference. The matter of Male’s failure to appear will be addressed at that hearing.

Also, on Sept. 19, Male was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, open container of alcohol in a vehicle, disorderly person – drunk, and trespass for an incident that occurred on Aug. 23 where Male was alleged to have operated his golf cart on disputed property.

Funk said in a statement that he was scheduled on Tuesday to represent Male for those charges, but had that hearing adjourned due to a conflict in schedule with another client.

Because he was unaware of the new trespassing charge, Funk did not have the hearing for that charge adjourned, which resulted in the failure to appear.