LI Former National Grid Workers Sentenced In Kickback Scheme: Feds

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — Two former National Grid managers from Long Island have been sentenced to one year and one day in prison, with a $10,000 fine, as well as forfeitures, for their parts in a years-long kickback scheme, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Patrick McCrann, 57, of Selden, and Richard Zavada, 65, of Hicksville, managers in the facilities department of the utility company, must also forfeit $200,000 and $330, 735, respectively, the office said. The pair pleaded guilty to a violation of the Travel Act in October 2021.

Carolyn Pokorny, first Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced the sentences, saying they mete out "just punishment to the bid riggers, who accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks, including cash, international vacations, home improvements, and recreational vehicles."

“This office will continue to root out corruption that undermines the integrity of competitive bidding in the procurement process," she added.

Prosecutors say McCrann and Zavada "steered contracts to certain contractors in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks," with one unnamed contractor securing over $50 million in facility maintenance contracts from National Grid during the time the company was paying bribes to them.

As managers, the pair had the authority to approve “no-bid” contracts worth less than $50,000, "and the contractor understood that if it did not pay bribes," the pair "would award National Grid’s work to the contractor’s competitors," according to prosecutors.

The men, who were part of a group of four, "communicated with the contractors about bribe payments by text messages, among other forms of communication," prosecutors said after the indictment was announced in June 2021.

In one example, on Sept. 2, 2016, McCrann texted a contractor, "Sandwich was light on the meat" and that he was "a little concerned," indicating that a bribe payment had been insufficient, the according to prosecutors.

The contractor replied, "I'll ask for a nice one next time," prosecutors said, adding that the response indicated "the next bribe would be larger."

In exchange for the bribe payments, the pair also helped the unnamed contractor to get National Grid contracts, according to prosecutors. These steps included offering favorable reviews of the contractor’s work, arranging "bribes to ensure the defendants did not slow or stop disbursement of project funds to the contractor," and avoided providing negative performance reviews regarding the contractor’s work," prosecutors said.

The pair also arranged so that the contractor’s work met contractual specifications, according to prosecutors.

The "illicit payments" to the pair included cash, recreational vehicle purchases, home improvements, landscaping and overseas vacations, prosecutors said, adding that federal agents found about $300,000 in cash in a safe deposit box held by Zavada during their investigation.

Three other former National Grid managers, Devraj Balbir, Ricardo Garcia, and Jevan Seepaul, previously entered guilty pleas in connection with accepting bribes from the contractor and are awaiting sentence.