No jail for woman in fraud case

ACTON » An Acton woman was sentenced to one year of probation for her role in defrauding the U.S. Treasury Department of more than $50 million in tax free energy grants, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Jessica Metivier, 45, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani on Friday after pleading guilty to attempts to interfere with administration of internal revenue laws last September, the DOJ stated in a press release.

In August 2017, Metivier was charged with her husband, 49-year-old Christopher Condron. Condron has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial, the release states.

According to the DOJ release, Condron, using Metivier’s name, is accused of submitting fraudulent applications to the Treasury Department for energy grants as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The Recovery Act provided tax-free grants to individuals and businesses who put certain “specified energy property” — including wind farms and gasification systems that convert trash into electricity — into service in a trade or business.

The release states that from May 2009 to June 2013, using Metivier’s name, Condron allegedly submitted fraudulent grant applications to the Treasury Department on behalf of four different Massachusetts companies, including Acton Bio Energy, Concord Nurseries, Kansas Green Energy and Ocean Wave Energy.

According to the indictment, for each of the applications, Condron falsely claimed that Metivier and her entities had acquired, placed into service, or started construction of energy property, which included three different bio-fuel gasification systems, purportedly built at a cost of approximately $88 million, as well as an $84 million wind farm project.

The indictment states Condron sought to be reimbursed for more than $50