Newtown Oil Defendants Found Guilty In Heating Fuel Scam

By Andrew Gorosko

DANBURY — A Danbury Superior Court judge has found two defendants each guilty of nine felonies in the Newtown Oil Company scam involving the now-defunct firm’s failure to deliver #2 home heating fuel in late 2002 to about 1,400 customers from nine towns who had entered prepaid fuel contracts with the firm.

In court on August 14, Judge Frank Iannotti found William A. Trudeau, Jr, 45, and his wife, Heather Bliss, 33, of Westport guilty of nine felonies each.

Newtown Oil was formerly located at a now-vacant site at 47-49 South Main Street in Newtown. The firm went out of business in December 2002.

Judge Iannotti found Mr Trudeau and Ms Bliss each guilty of three counts of first-degree larceny, four counts of second-degree larceny involving a victim over age 60, one count of second-degree larceny, and one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny.

Both Mr Trudeau and Ms Bliss entered Alford Doctrine pleas to each of the nine felony counts. In such pleas, the defendants do not admit guilt and assert their innocence, but acknowledge that sufficient evidence exists for a conviction by a judge or jury.

After the two defendants entered the Alford pleas in court, Judge Iannotti, entered findings of guilty for the 18 felony counts pending against them.

Also, the state has dropped its prosecution of three other charges against each of the two defendants. Not being prosecuted against Mr Trudeau and Ms Bliss are charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, and conspiracy to commit second-degree larceny. The racketeering charges fall under the state’s Corrupt Organization Racketeering Activity (CORA) law.

Mr Trudeau and Ms Bliss are scheduled for sentencing in court on November 7.

State’s Attorney Stephen J. Sedensky, III, who is the prosecutor in the case, said the state has reached no plea agreement with the defendants and will argue at their sentencing that they be imprisoned as punishment for their convictions.

The judge, however, has indicated that if Mr Trudeau and Ms Bliss make full restitution at the time of their sentencing to oil company customers who lost money as a result of the firm’s failure to deliver fuel to them, the defendants would receive suspended sentences which include no imprisonment, Mr Sedensky said. Mr Sedensky said that the restitution amount would be approximately $100,000.

However, the findings of presentencing investigations might result in the judge changing his thinking about not imprisoning the defendants, Mr Sedensky said.

If the defendants do receive suspended sentences, and then violate the conditions of those sentences, they could then be imprisoned by the court.

The criminal case against Mr Trudeau and Ms Bliss involves oil company customers who lost money from September 2002 to December 2002.

The $100,000 in restitution would be made to oil company customers who filed formal complaints with the state Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) about the firm’s failure to deliver heating fuel and who also had made advance payments for that fuel by cash, check, or money order.

Mr Sedensky explained that people who made fuel prepayments using their credit cards have been refunded their lost money by their credit card companies. Credit card companies are insured against such losses.

Civil Suit

In a parallel civil lawsuit that the state filed against Newtown Oil in May 2003, the state and Newtown Oil in May 2007 reached a settlement under which the Newtown Oil owners agreed to pay $260,000 to oil company customers and the state to settle claims that the company entered into fraudulent prepaid home heating fuel contracts during the 2002-03 heating season.

Approximately $250,000 of that separate restitution, which would be paid to oil company customers, represents about 60 percent of what those Newtown Oil customers are owed for undelivered oil during the 2002-03 heating season. That restitution has not yet been made.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said August 20, “We are arranging for the payment of the restitution.” The state is reviewing pending claims and determining appropriate reimbursements in the case, he said.

The attorney general stressed that the $100,000 restitution amount pending in the criminal case is separate from the $250,000 restitution amount pending in the civil case. A $100,000 criminal case restitution payment would increase the percentage of reimbursement to oil company customers who were bilked of their money, he said.

Mr Blumenthal said he hopes that eligible customers receive reimbursement stemming from the civil case as soon as October. Such payments would be sent by registered mail, he said.

The state has fought hard to get reimbursements for the people who lost money on the prepaid fuel contracts, he said.

In response to Mr Trudeau’s having been found guilty of nine felonies, attorney Ross Garber of Hartford, who represents Mr Trudeau, said, “I’m not going to have any comment.”

Attorney Andrew Bowman of Westport, who represents Ms Bliss, could not be reached for comment.

The criminal case against Mr Trudeau and Ms Bliss involved voluminous paperwork evidence, which included 13 large cartons of financial documents. 

Before entering their Alford pleas in the case on August 14, both Mr Trudeau and Ms Bliss had pleaded innocent to all of the 24 felony charges against them. Each is free on $100,000 bail while awaiting sentencing.

In August 2007, police arrested Mr Trudeau and Ms Bliss in connection with a scheme that police charge effectively bilked oil company customers out of more than $400,000 for home heating fuel which the customers never received after signing prepaid fuel purchase contracts for the 2002-03 heating season. Police allege that that the crimes occurred between April 1, 2002, and December 2, 2002.

An estimated 1,390 oil company customers were affected by Newtown Oil’s failure to deliver fuel on prepaid contracts. From September to December of 2002, those customers entered purchase contacts that had a per-gallon fuel price of 89.9 cents, which was much lower than competing fuel dealers’ prices.

In a separate case unrelated to the Newtown Oil scandal, in July 2003, Mr Trudeau was sentenced in US District Court in Hartford to a 22-month federal prison term, plus restitution and fines, following his guilty pleas to federal tax and financial fraud offenses.

Mr Trudeau was ordered to pay $458,000 in restitution to the victims of his financial frauds, plus a $25,000 criminal fine.