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Norwich rep to CT energy cooperative sentenced to prison time
NEW HAVEN — Another former high-level official from a Connecticut energy cooperative was sentenced to prison time Thursday, officials say.
In a release on Thursday, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut said John Bilda, 59, had been sentenced to six months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his role in misusing federal funds given to the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Corp.
The news comes after Drew Rankin, the former CEO of CMEEC, and James Sullivan, its former board chair, were also sentenced to prison time for their roles in spending more than $800,000 on lavish trips outside of Connecticut. Bilda was the Norwich representative on CMEEC’s board of directors.
CMEEC is a cooperative public corporation that permits municipal electric utilities in Connecticut to join together to create electric power in the their area. Its members included the Norwich, Groton, Jewett City, Bozrah and parts of Norwalk. As part of the agreement towns sign to participate, excess revenue is to be returned to the member towns to help keep electricity costs stable for ratepayers.
The U.S. attorney’s office said CMEEC received more than $9 million dollars from the U.S. Department of Energy between 2010 and 2015, while member towns also received federal funds.
In a trial in 2021, federal investigators said Bilda, Rankin, Sullivan and other members of CMEEC’s board of directors organized expensive trips, including to the Kentucky Derby in 2015 and 2016, and to a luxury golf resort in West Virginia in 2015. They said the trips did not relate to CMEEC business, but were intended to personally benefit the officials, adding the costs included “travel expenses, private chartered airfare, first-class hotel accommodations, meals, tickets to sporting events, golf fees, souvenirs and gifts.”
“For the Kentucky Derby trip in 2015, which had an average cost of approximately $9,000 per guest, Bilda brought his wife, his parents, and two friends,” the U.S. attorney’s office said.
In August of 2015, the U.S. attorney’s office said, Rankin, Bilda and two other board members traveled, at CMEEC expense and a cost of more than $21,000, to the Greenbrier golf resort in West Virginia. It said Rankin, Bilda, and several others returned to the Greenbrier at a cost to CMEEC of more than $100,000 two months later.
“In response to reporter inquiries about the Kentucky Derby and golf trips, Rankin underreported the costs of the trips, omitted the names of attendees who were not CMEEC employees or board members, and made other false statements related to how the trips were funded,” it said.
When the trips became known to the general public, the U.S. attorneys office said, CMEEC canceled a reservation it had made for the 2017 Kentucky Derby, and was refunded only approximately $90,000 of the $298,960 it had prepaid for the trip in May 2016.
The U.S. attorney’s office said Bilda, Rankin and Sullivan were found guilty of one count of theft concerning a program receiving federal funds in December of 2021. It said has been sentenced to Rankin to 12 months of imprisonment, while Sullivan was sentenced to six months of imprisonment, adding restitution will be determined after additional court proceedings.
Bilda is required to report to prison on July 12.
