A former Glastonbury business owner pleaded guilty Monday to one count of wire fraud related to allegations that he defrauded a federal energy program to the tune of $9 million.
According to Connecticut’s U.S. District Attorney Deirdre M. Daly, Walter Craig Bradway, who now lives in Florida, took advantage of an energy incentive program contained within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
As owner of DataComm Services LLC, Bradway is alleged to have submitted more than 300 applications in 2010 and 2011 to ARRA’s Specified Energy Property Program, which paid for a portion of solar panel installations and other projects. SEPR was overseen by the U.S. Treasury Department and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado.
Prosecutors said many of Broadway’s applications were fraudulent because they misrepresented that the projects were in service – a requirement to receive the funds – when some were not finished or had not even begun. Some also overstated the size and cost of projects, while others contained falsified engineer reports and interconnection agreements, Daly said.
Broadway, who faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, will be sentenced in April. As a part of his plea deal, he agreed to pay restitution of $8.9 million.
