DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A judge has delayed the sentencing for an animal rights activist from Minneapolis who was convicted of participating in a conspiracy to free ferrets from a breeding facility in Minnesota.

Scott Ryan DeMuth had been scheduled to be sentenced Friday at the federal courthouse in Davenport. But U.S. District Judge John Jarvey on Thursday entered an order rescheduling the sentencing for Feb. 14 without explanation.

DeMuth had been charged with helping carry out a 2004 break-in at a University of Iowa psychology laboratory where vandals freed hundreds of lab rats and destroyed research materials.

But under a deal with prosecutors, they dropped that charge and he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit animal enterprise terrorism for his role in a 2006 break-in at Lakeside Ferrets, Inc.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)