First CMEEC defendant sentenced to a year in prison; two more sentencings coming
The former chief executive officer for the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Corporation was sentenced to a year in prison on Tuesday the U.S. District Court in New Haven for stealing funds and using them to pay for lavish trips to the Kentucky Derby and a golf resort.
Drew Rankin, 62, who is free on a $100,000 bond, was ordered to report to prison on July 11. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Meyer also ordered Rankin to serve three years of supervised release. Restitution will be determined after additional court proceedings, according the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
On Dec. 10, 2021, a federal jury found Rankin; James Sullivan, former chairman of the CMEEC Board of Directors; and former Norwich Public Utilities General Manager John Bilda, Norwich’s representative on the CMEEC Board of Directors; each guilty of one count of theft concerning a program receiving federal funds.
More: CMEEC board fires Rankin
Those theft counts related to a 2015 trip to the Kentucky Derby and another to The Greenbrier golf resort in West Virginia.
The trial began three years after the defendants were indicted by a grand jury in November 2018 on counts of conspiracy and federal fund theft.
All three were found not guilty on conspiracy and theft counts stemming from a 2014 trip to the Derby. Former Groton utilities commissioner and former CMEEC board member Edward DeMuzzio and former CMEEC Chief Financial Officer Edward Pryor were acquitted on all charges.
Sullivan is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday, and Bilda is set to be sentenced on Thursday.
About CMEEC
CMEEC is a cooperative public corporation that permits municipal electric utilities in Connecticut to join together to furnish electric power in the municipalities’ areas of operation.
CMEEC’s coverage area includes all or parts of Norwich, Groton, Norwalk, Jewett City, Bozrah, Gilman, Lebanon, Franklin, Montville and Salem. The public power utility, which receives federal monetary benefits, provides electricity to roughly 70,000 residential, commercial/industrial and small business customers located across the state.
Background: The CMEEC federal corruption trial begins Nov. 1. New documents hint at what will happen.
During the trial, prosecutors argued many of the trip-related expenses were charged to a CMEEC “margin account,” a revenue account held in trust for member towns, which include Norwich and Groton.
The government argued Rankin and others sought to conceal the alleged fund theft by mischaracterizing the trip expenses; failing to disclose the trips to CMEEC senior-level employees; encouraging trip-goers to not discuss the excursions; and making misleading statements to the media when the trips came to light.
Cost for trips exceeded $800,000
Costs for the trips, which included board members, their family members and friends, were pegged at more than $800,000 – including private chartered air travel, first-class hotels, meals and sporting event tickets - and unrelated to any CMEEC business, prosecutors said.
Between 2010 and 2015, CMEEC received more than $9 million dollars from the U.S. Department of Energy and CMEEC member towns also received funds from federal grants.
When questioned by the media, Rankin under-reported the cost of the trips and omitted the names of several attendees. After the trips were brought to light by The Bulletin, CMEEC canceled a reservation it had made for the 2017 Kentucky Derby.
John Penney can be reached at jpenney@norwichbulletin.com or at (860) 857-6965
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: 12-month prison term ordered for former CMEEC executive for theft
