The mayor of a Lowndes County town has stepped down after pleading guilty to felony ethics violations, according to Attorney General Luther Strange’s Office.

Walter S. Hill, who was the mayor of Mosses, stepped down the day before he entered a plea of guilty on Jan. 6 in Montgomery County Circuit Court, according to Strange’s office.

Hill was accused of using his office for personal gain of more than $25,000 by unlawfully directing money from the town to himself.

This was not Hill’s first time being charged with ethics violations. According to Strange’s office, he was convicted in 2014 for misdemeanor ethics charges, but he remained in office.

“Mr. Hill committed flagrant abuses of the public trust and taxpayers’ money for too long,” Strange said in a press release regarding the guilty plea. “It is extremely important that this case has resulted in him no longer being in office.”

According to the release, a conviction would have removed Hill from office if he had not stepped down.

Hill is charged with using money from Mosses to make child support payments and created fraudulent records to cover it up, issuing unauthorized payroll checks to Mosses employees that were deposited into his personal bank account, issuing six additional stipend payments into his own personal account, issuing himself a reimbursement payment for property lost in a fire at his residence, and issuing multiple checks to himself that were not authorized or approved from the town.

All of the allegations amount to $25,370.37. Hill could face two to 20 years in prison for the ethics violation, which is a Class B felony.

Hill’s resignation leaves Mosses without a mayor, but Mayor Pro Tempore Willie Hill said he will serve as acting mayor of Mosses until the council makes an appointment.

“We just have to go on with our regular meetings and just have work sessions and keep moving the town forward,” Willie said.

Willie Hill said the council does not currently have a timeline on when a new mayor will be named.

“We will discuss that in our work session, and we’re not going to schedule a work session until tonight (Tuesday) at our regular council meeting,” he said.

Walter Hill’s sentence hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 15, 2017.