A former Stoneham auxiliary police officer has been sentenced to over two years in prison following a bribery scandal that involved misappropriation of Massachusetts energy efficiency funds, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts. Christopher Ponzo, age 50, faced Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton on Tuesday and received a 27-month prison sentence along with an order to pay a $300,000 fine after admitting to corruption charges which included one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, 24 counts of honest services wire fraud, and one count of making false statements to government officials.
The case, which emerged from a federal grand jury indictment in January 2023, involved Ponzo cooperating with his brother Joseph Ponzo in a bribery scheme that manipulated the Mass Save program, a utility-funded initiative meant to deliver energy efficiency services to Massachusetts consumers, the fund collects hundreds of millions annually which it distributes to fund such programs but Christopher Ponzo paid weekly cash bribes to obtain lucrative contracts for himself and his brother's shell company, Air Tight, which despite having no expertise in residential insulation work was awarded over $7 million in contracts. Ponzo masked these activities through illegal actions that included bribery, kickbacks, and disguising ownership of the company under his spouse’s name to secure an unfair advantage.
The criminal activities, which lasted from 2013 to 2022, began with Christopher Ponzo bribing Associate 1, an employee of Company A, the lead vendor in the Mass Save program, in exchange for fraudulent contracts; the scheme continued even after Associate 1’s departure from Company A, with Ponzo recruiting Associate 2 in similar corrupt practices, hiring their relative as part of the bribery-kickback scheme, in April 2022, both brothers misleadingly denied any wrongdoing to federal agents. Joseph Ponzo also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing later this month.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley announced the sentencing alongside Jodi Cohen, the FBI's Special Agent in Charge in Boston, and Thomas Demeo, the IRS Criminal Investigations Acting Special Agent in Charge; Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Maynard and Dustin Chao led the prosecution.
