Former National Grid Workers Plead Guilty In Bribe Scheme: Feds

SELDEN, NY — Four former employees of National Grid have pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and kickback from the owners of a Long Island-based contractor in exchange for steering lucrative contracts to the contractor, the U.S. Attorney’s office said Monday.

Patrick McCrann, 65, of Selden, and Richard Zavada, 65, of Hicksville, entered pleas on Monday, and Ricardo Garcia, 48, of Stroudsburg, PA, and Jevan Seepaul, 36, of Rockville Centre, pleaded guilty last week, prosecutors said.

The “illicit payments” to the men included cash, the purchase of a recreational vehicle, home improvements, landscaping, and an overseas vacation, prosecutors said, adding that during the investigation, “agents recovered about $300,000 in cash from a safe deposit box held by Zavada.”

The four men were managers employed in the facilities department who steered contracts to certain Long Island-based contractors in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks, according to prosecutors. An unnamed contractor secured more than $50 million in facility maintenance contracts from “the company,” according to court documents cited by the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The four men were indicted back in June, and at the time, “the company” was identified as National Grid, in a news release from the office of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office.

Back then, Cuomo called the allegations against the former National Grid employees as "egregious conduct" on Friday, and announced that the state's Department of Public Service has launched an investigation into National Grid's downstate operations, "to ensure we get to the bottom of it immediately and that justice is served."

Cuomo said the state has "zero tolerance for utility employees who violate the law in order to line their own pockets."

"Our investigation will thoroughly examine and determine if the company failed to have the appropriate safeguards in place to prevent criminal activities on the part of employees, and if not, the utility will be held accountable," he added.

The department's chief executive officer, John B. Howard, said that as a result of the employees' alleged criminal activity the department's investigation will determine if the utility's customers were financially harmed by the scheme and if so, it will seek "full restitution on behalf of the customers.

"The company stated that the contracts did not involve critical gas infrastructure, so public safety is not at risk," he said. "The department's investigation will work to confirm that fact."

A National Grid spokeswoman told Newsday back in June that the company "fully cooperated" with the investigation and will take any steps necessary to enhance our existing controls to prevent future occurrence."

She went on to say that the company has "zero tolerance for unethical and illegal behavior" and that its employees are "committed to our values and professionalism as they carry out their responsibility serving customers every day. The alleged misconduct, of a handful of former employees, contradicts that commitment."

As managers, the men had the authority to approve “no-bid” contracts valued at less than $50,000, and the contractor understood that if it did not pay bribes, work would be given to the contractor’s competitors, prosecutors said.

In exchange for the bribe payments, the men also took various steps to help the contractor get contracts from National Grid “for which there was a bidding process, including providing it with non-public bidding information, circumventing the company’s competitive bidding process, and offering favorable reviews of the contractor’s work,” prosecutors said.

The contractor paid bribes to the men to ensure that they “did not slow or stop disbursement of project funds to them,” provide negative performance reviews regarding their work, or claim the contractor’s work did not meet contractual specifications, prosecutors said.

Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said the defendants “admitted to accepting thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks for their own enrichment and to subverting the no-bid process for awarding contracts.”

“The office will remain vigilant in prosecuting criminals who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of taxpayers and consumers,” she said.

In a statement to Patch, Seepaul’s attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman of Manhattan, said he “made a horrible mistake in an industry that is rife with this sort of behavior and he regretted it instantly.”

“He’s looking forward to putting this behind him and moving forward in his life,” he said.

McCrann’s attorney, Andrew Karpf of Huntington Station, could not be reached for comment.

Garcia’s attorney, Johnathan Rosenberg of Brooklyn, was not immediately available for comment.

Zavada’s attorney, Edward Palermo of Hauppauge, did not respond to a request for comment.

Each defendant faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and a maximum fine of $500,000, mandatory restitution, and forfeiture, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.