Court postpones sentencing of former utility officials to mid-May
Apr. 9—The U.S. District Court in New Haven has delayed until mid-May the upcoming sentencing of three former local utility officials convicted of one theft charge each for their roles in planning lavish trips to the Kentucky Derby and a West Virginia golf resort in 2015.
Citing a medical issue, Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer rescheduled the sentencing for former Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative CEO Drew Rankin to May 16; former Norwich and CMEEC board chairman James Sullivan to May 17 and former Norwich Public Utilities general manager and CMEEC board member John Bilda to May 18.
The three were convicted in Dec. 9, 2021 of one count each of theft from a program receiving government funds for the 2015 trips hosted by CMEEC to the Kentucky Derby and Greenbrier resort in West Virginia.
The original indictment charged the three men and two other former CMEEC officials with theft and conspiracy in connection with trips to the Kentucky Derby in 2014 and 2016. Federal prosecutors dropped charges pertaining to the 2016 trips during the November 2021 trial.
The jury acquitted former Groton Utilities board member Edward DeMuzzio and former CMEEC CFO Edward Pryor of all charges, and acquitted Bilda, Sullivan and Rankin of the conspiracy and remaining theft charges.
Most pre-sentencing documents in the case remain sealed, including federal prosecutors' report offering recommended sentences for the three convicted officials. Pre-sentencing reports for Bilda and Sullivan are due to be filed next week.
Prison, hefty fine recommended for Rankin
The 46-page sentencing memorandum document filed April 4 on behalf of Rankin by his attorneys, Craig A. Raabe and Christopher M. Barrett makes several references to both the government's sentencing guidelines and CMEEC's plan to request restitution in a victim's statement to the court.
Rankin's attorneys cited the sealed to the public government sentencing report that recommends an incarceration range of 41 to 51 months for Rankin, and what his attorneys called "an enormous restitution order (and potential fine)." The attorneys wrote that the government proposed a financial loss of $1.1 million associated with the case.
In addition, Raabe and Barrett wrote that CMEEC has notified the federal probation office that the cooperative intends to submit a victim impact statement seeking about $10 million in restitution from all three defendants. The amount would include the legal defense fees CMEEC has been paying based on bylaws in place at the time of the indictments that offered broad indemnification coverage for board and CMEEC staff in allegations of wrongdoing.
The CMEEC board rewrote the bylaws in the wake of the indictments, tightening indemnification of board and staff if future criminal allegations surface.
Rankin's attorneys sharply objected to both the sentencing guidelines and the proposed restitution or fines. They argued that based on the narrow conviction on one theft charge stemming from what the attorneys described as only a portion of the 2015 events and Rankin's previously impeccable work history.
Rankin joined CMEEC as CEO in 2011after climbing the ladder at two private utiity companies in Cincinnati and Colorado Springs, where he experienced and led successful team-building off-site events at luxurious locations, his attorneys wrote.
Rankin was placed on administrative leave Nov. 9, 2018, one day after the indictments were issued. A revamped CMEEC board hired a labor specialist attorney to conduct an investigation into his actions as CEO. Following release of the report and a hearing with Rankin, the board terminated his employment in May 2019.
Raabe and Barrett wrote that Rankin should receive no more than a sentence of probation "or confinement without incarceration" and restitution "not to exceed $23,587.58," and with no fine. The attorneys argued the restitution actually should be only $5,361.85 — Rankin's share of the August 2015 scouting trip to the Greenbrier resort, attended only by Rankin, Sullivan, Bilda and DeMuzzio. The August trip was a precursor to the larger October CMEEC board trip to the resort.
Rankin's attorneys stressed that CMEEC did not consider itself a victim until the 2018 indictments. The attorneys submitted testimony from former CMEEC Board Chairman Ken Sullivan and former board member Robert Groner, who attended some of the so-called strategic retreats, stating the trips were valued for bringing the representatives of the different CMEEC utility owners together to improve the cooperative's performance.
Rankin's attorneys pointed out that CMEEC's general counsel assisted in responding to press inquiries after news of the trips was published in October 2016, resulting in public outcry. The attorneys wrote the CMEEC statement said the retreats "produced tremendous value to the Member Utilities for many years, but especially since 2013" — the year the Kentucky Derby trips started.
They wrote that before submitting its $10 million restitution claim, CMEEC "never asked Mr. Rankin to reimburse it for even a penny of the funds that the government claimed he 'stole.'" They added that CMEEC never asked any other board members or staff who attended the trips for reimbursement.
"CMEEC's atypical reaction to a supposed 'theft' speaks loudly and takes this case out of the heartland of the Sentencing Guidelines," the attorneys wrote, "which are designed to punish a typical embezzlement, theft, fraud or conversion in which a 'victim' actually would be (and feel) victimized. CMEEC's actions, rather than its words now while it is under intense post-conviction public pressure to recoup expenses, clearly show that it did not believe that Mr. Rankin had stolen from it or its members by conducting the retreats."
