#MIDDLEBURY #MVFD #PERROTTI
United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut Deirdre M. Daly said in a press release that Paul Perrotti, 49, of Middlebury was sentenced Aug. 29, 2016, by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer in New Haven to three months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release for embezzling funds while serving as fire chief of the Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department (MVFD). Judge Meyer also ordered Perrotti to perform 200 hours of community service during his supervised release.
On July 23, 2015, a jury found Perrotti guilty of two counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds. An FBI press release issued at the time said the government believed Perrotti embezzled more than $70,000. In a post-trial ruling, however, Judge Meyer found that Perrotti embezzled $25,746 from the town and the MVFD.
According to the evidence at the trial, Perrotti served as the fire chief of the MVFD from 1997 until 2014. Perrotti also is a licensed electrical contractor and, since approximately 2010, has operated Paul Perrotti Electric LLC. He was charged with using town funds to pay for unauthorized personal expenses and for expenses associated with his company in 2012 and 2013.
This included checks made directly payable to his employees, checks made to various vendors of his company for company-related supplies, and checks made payable to third parties, who ultimately passed the payments on to Perrotti. He also submitted invoices to the town for expenses he falsely claimed were incurred by the MVFD but, in fact, were expenses related to his company, including bills from various company vendors.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Karwan and Heather Cherry.
