Former Norwich utility officials seek to avoid prison in corruption case
Apr. 23—Two former Norwich utilities officials are asking for no prison time when they're sentenced next month in federal court, saying they have already suffered personal and professional damage after being convicted on corruption charges for using public utility funds to take lavish trips to the Kentucky Derby and a West Virginia golf resort.
Attorneys for former Norwich Public Utilities General Manager John Bilda and former Norwich utilities commission Chairman James Sullivan last week submitted lengthy presentencing reports in U.S. District Court in New Haven. While they are seeking sentences with no prison time, they also plan to appeal the guilty verdicts to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
The attorneys are asking Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer to use narrow interpretations of the Dec. 10, 2021 guilty verdict on one count only theft count. They cited years of personal suffering they endured as once highly respected city leaders since public outcry erupted when the trips first were publicized in October of 2016.
Bilda and Sullivan, former members of the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative board of directors, and former CMEEC CEO Drew Rankin were convicted on one count each of theft from a program receiving federal funds for 2015 CMEEC trips to the Kentucky Derby and The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia.
The three were acquitted of conspiracy charges and theft charges in the 2014 Kentucky Derby trip. Federal prosecutors withdrew charges associated with CMEEC's 2016 Kentucky Derby trip. Collectively, CMEEC's trips, involving dozens of board members, top-level staff, their families, public officials, vendors and friends, cost $1.1 million and used CMEEC revenue that was to be returned to the member municipal utilities for electric rate stabilization.
In contrast, federal prosecutors are seeking prison time and hefty restitution and are asking Judge Meyer to consider a broad range of factors well beyond the single theft conviction. Government prosecutors stress the breach of public trust in using money meant to reduce utility bills to take lavish trips.
"The offense involved hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money spent on private whims of fancy — a blatant and egregious abuse of the public trust," prosecutors reference federal prosecutors Vanessa Roberts Avery, Sarah P. Karwan and Michael S. McGarry wrote in a presentencing report on Rankin's case. "This is the type of fraud, coupled with waste and abuse of the purse by public servants, that the public has come to abhor."
Rankin is scheduled to be sentenced May 16, Sullivan May 17 and Bilda on May 18 in U.S. District court in New Haven.
Bilda's attorneys wrote in his presentencing report that the public outcry and criminal charges destroyed his reputation and Bilda turned to excessive alcohol use, eventually requiring in-patient treatment. Relapses put him in the hospital with "painful bouts" of pancreatitis."
Bilda's attorneys called the government proposed sentencing guidelines of 51 to 63 months in prison, "unreasonable and objectionable," and "grossly out of proportion" with the one-count guilty verdict. Bilda's attorneys noted that in September 2017, prior to the indictment, Bilda donated $15,000 ― the estimated cost of the 2016 derby trip for him and his wife ― to the Thames Valley Council for Community Action for fuel assistance to low-income families.
Bilda's attorneys suggested a sentence of probation with community service, alcohol testing, treatment, and counseling.
Sullivan's attorneys wrote that his marriage to California Congresswoman Linda Sanchez "broke down in part due to the stress of Mr. Sullivan's indictment and prosecution." Sanchez attended CMEEC's Kentucky Derby trips with Sullivan in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Sanchez' office issued a statement n 2016 saying she had cleared the trips with the House Ethics Committee.
The couple's 13-year-old son lives with Sullivan. The divorce proceedings include a plan for the boy to live with Sullivan and attend high school in the Norwich area, Sullivan's attorneys wrote.
Sullivan resigned from the CMEEC and NPU boards in October 2015, and did not attend the October 2015 Greenbrier or 2016 Kentucky Derby trips. Government sentencing guidelines call for six to 12 months imprisonment, his attorneys wrote. They seek probation, community service and restitution.
Sullivan's attorneys objected to the U.S. probation office's calculation of financial loss of $315,485 in his case. They argued Sullivan's participation was legitimate as a CMEEC board member, and he "at most" could be liable only for the 2015 costs for his guests, $15,085.
"To Mr. Sullivan's knowledge, neither CMEEC nor the government has requested that any of the unindicted Board members repay CMEEC for the cost of their attendance at the May 2015 retreat, much less the entire cost of that retreat," Sullivan's attorneys wrote.
Bilda's attorneys wrote that Bilda maintains there was no "reasonably foreseeable pecuniary harm" resulting from the trips. They argue the financial cost of his 2015 trips could be no more than $44,617 for himself and his guests.
"The process from the start of this investigation in late 2016 to sentencing, which thanks in great part to the Covid pandemic, now stretches out over six and one-half years of great uncertainty for him and his family," Bilda's attorneys wrote, "has proven particularly painful for John, who has existed under this cloud for a very long time."
In prosecutors' presentencing report on Rankin's sentencing ― the only government report filed thus far ― U.S. attorneys are recommending a prison sentence of 41 to 51 months as "reasonable and appropriate." They argued the court should consider the entire $1.1 million costs of all trips from 2014 through 2016.
"Mr. Rankin's misuse of CMEEC funds across many years should be considered by the Court in evaluating his history and characteristics and as firm evidence that the events of 2015 were not 'aberrant behavior,' as he now claims," the government attorneys wrote.
Bilda's and Sullivan's attorneys have asked the court to consider their decades of community leadership and volunteerism in sentencing two former Norwich leading citizens. Dozens letters of support from family members friends, neighbors and current and former city officials were filed in their support.
Bilda, a Taftville volunteer firefighter, served for several months as both NPU general manager and interim city manager in 2016. Sullivan had served two terms as a Norwich City Council member and served on other city commissions and as a youth sports coach. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2004.
Presentencing documents for all three defendants objected to any proposed increases in their prison sentences for allegations of obstructing justice or even perjury during trial testimony.
Judge Meyer announced April 4 that he would consider potential obstruction of justice claims against Rankin for allegedly misleading testimony pertaining to the August 2015 Greenbrier trip, attended by Rankin, Bilda, Sullivan and former Groton Utilities commissioner Edward DeMuzzio. DeMuzzio was charged in the indictment and was acquitted on all charges.
Rankin testified the August 2015 trip was billed to the board's compensation committee, because that's where the idea originated. The four men went to scout The Greenbrier for an October retreat. Rankin said the four men discussed Rankin's proposed long-term strategy plan for about 35 to 40 hours of the four-day August trip, on the plane, at dinners and while playing golf. He said the trip schedule did not list any time devoted to strategy plan.
Attorneys' must file responses to the judge's notice by May 1 "with respect to the grounds or lack of grounds for application of the obstruction adjustment," Meyer wrote.
