Former Norwich Rep For Energy Cooperative Sentenced To Prison: Feds

NORWICH, CT — The city's former representative on on the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Corporation (“CMEEC”) Board of Directors has been sentenced to six months in prison for misusing the energy cooperative's funds, according to a statement from Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney, for the District of Connecticut. John Bilda, 59, will also serve three years of supervised release.

Bilda was one of the CMEEC leaders who helped plan "lavish trips" outside of Connecticut, including trips to the Kentucky Derby in 2015 and 2016, and to a luxury golf resort in West Virginia in 2015, according to prosecutors.

"These trips did not relate to CMEEC business, but were intended to personally benefit... CMEEC Board members, their family members, friends, and associates," prosecutors said in a statement.

Costs for the trips totaled more than $800,000 and 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.

In August 2015, CEO Drew 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. In October 2015, Rankin, Bilda, and several others returned to the Greenbrier at a cost of more than $100,000, according to prosecutors.

Rankin was sentenced recently to one year in prison.

Rankin and Bilda were found guilty in a 2021 jury trial of one count of theft concerning a program receiving federal funds.

The CMEEC is a cooperative public corporation that allows municipal electric utilities to join together to provide electric power. The energy cooperative's members include the City of Norwich, the City of Groton, the Borough of Jewett City, the Second Taxing District of the City of Norwalk, the Third Taxing District of the City of Norwalk, and the Town of Bozrah.

Between 2010 and 2015, the CMEEC received more than $9 million dollars from the U.S. Department of Energy. CMEEC member towns also received funds from federal grants. Any excess CMEEC funds are to be returned to the member towns to help keep electricity costs stable for ratepayers.

See related: Former CT Energy Cooperative CEO Sentenced For Misusing Funds: Feds