Federal trial on Derby trips delayed again due to COVID-19

Utility officials face conspiracy, theft charges over four years of junkets

The continuing COVID-19 pandemic is forcing postponement again of the criminal trial of five former utility cooperative officials involved in controversial trips to the Kentucky Derby, possibly until fall, according to court documents filed in federal court in New Haven.

The trial of the former Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative officials had been set to begin in early April with jury selection, but last week, the court ordered all trials scheduled to begin prior to May 3 to be postponed due to the difficulty in holding jury selection and trials in crowded courtrooms during the pandemic. The court asked federal attorneys and defense attorneys for all five defendants to confer and propose a new schedule.

In a joint motion filed Thursday, the attorneys mutually agreed to propose that jury selection begin Nov. 1, and trial evidence begin at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 4. The attorneys estimated the trial will take two to three weeks.

Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer has not yet ruled on the proposed schedule.

CMEEC hosted trips to the Kentucky Derby called board retreats from 2013 through 2016 for top staff, board members, family and dozens of invited guests. Two trips were taken to The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia, and CMEEC made unrefunded deposits for a 2017 Kentucky Derby trip that was canceled.

Former CMEEC CEO Drew Rankin; former CMEEC Chief Financial Officer Edward Pryor; former Norwich Public Utilities General Manager John Bilda, the former CMEEC board vice chairman; former board Chairman James Sullivan of Norwich and former board Treasurer Edward De