Newtown Oil Official Arrested On Bad Check Counts

By Andrew Gorosko

State Department of Revenue Services (DRS) agents on June 4 charged an official of the former Newtown Oil Company with four separate counts of issuing bad checks for allegedly writing four bounced checks for state tax payments.

At Danbury Superior Court, DRS agents served the felony warrants against Heather M. Bliss, 27, of Westport, who formerly worked as the office manager at Newtown Oil Company at 47-49 South Main Street. Ms Bliss also was the corporate secretary of Newtown Oil, which went out of business last December.

Ms Bliss was served with the warrants at court, where she was appearing in connection with other pending bad check charges. If convicted of the June 4 bad check charges, each count carries penalties of up to five years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines.

Following her arrest, Ms Bliss was transported to State Police Troop A barracks in Southbury for booking. Ms Bliss was released on a $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Hartford Superior Court on June 12 in connection with the DRS charges.

Newtown Oil has been the focus of a state investigation over the firm’s failure last winter to honor prepaid home heating fuel delivery contracts with approximately 1,400 customers, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars of customer losses. The state has sued Newtown Oil in seeking to recover the lost money for customers.

DRS spokeswoman Sarah Kaufman said June 5 the four bad check charges against Ms Bliss stem from three bad checks that had been issued to DRS by Newtown Oil, and one bad check that had been issued to DRS by Newtown Tire and Service. Newtown Tire and Service also was located at 47-49 South Main Street.

DRS did not disclose the type of state tax payments or the amount of those payments that are the focus of Ms Bliss’s June 4 arrest. 

Attorney Neal Rogan of Norwalk, who represents Ms Bliss, had no comment on her arrest.

Ms Bliss is married to William A. Trudeau, Jr, who state officials believe operated Newtown Oil.

Last January, Newtown police arrested Ms Bliss on three counts of issuing bad checks, reportedly in an aggregate amount of $75,000, to a Meriden home heating fuel supplier. 

Last month, State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed a lawsuit against Newtown Oil in seeking to recover money lost last winter by 1,400 oil company customers, whose prepaid home heating fuel contracts for the 2002–03 heating season were not honored by the firm.

Besides Newtown Oil, named as defendants in that lawsuit are Ms Bliss; Andrew Hunihan, the president of the firm; and Mr Trudeau, a consultant to the firm, who regularly participated in its operations.

Newtown Oil failed to deliver approximately one million gallons of home heating fuel that it was committed to deliver under the terms of the prepaid delivery contracts.

Mr Blumenthal has said he may also pursue criminal charges against Newtown Oil.

Mr Trudeau currently is free on bond, awaiting sentencing in connection with unrelated federal convictions involving failure to pay payroll taxes and fraudulently obtaining loans.

Last month, US Bankruptcy Court dismissed a bankruptcy filing by Newtown Oil, allowing the state to file its lawsuit against the firm. Aggrieved customers also may file individual lawsuits.

Mr Blumenthal filed the state lawsuit against Newtown Oil under the terms of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, charging Newtown Oil with “unfair or deceptive acts and practices.”

The attorney general terms Newtown Oil’s contractual practices as false, deceptive, and likely to mislead.