Crime

Stoneham police officer, brother plead guilty on bribery charges

Prosecutors said Joseph and Christopher Ponzo concocted a scheme that earned them millions of dollars in Mass Save contracts.

November 7, 2024

2 minutes to read

A former Stoneham police officer and his brother have pleaded guilty to a wire fraud scheme that prosecutors say earned the pair millions of dollars in federal contracts.

Joseph Ponzo, of Stoneham, and his brother, Christopher Ponzo of North Reading, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of wire fraud and one count of lying to government officials, federal prosecutors said in a statement. The Stoneham Police Department could not be contacted for a comment on Joseph’s charges.

Joseph also pleaded guilty to four counts of falsifying tax returns, court records show. Christopher owned an electrical contracting company, prosecutors said, and he and his brother used bribes to secure exclusive “Mass Save” contracts.

A thousand-dollar scam

“Mass Save is a Massachusetts public-private partnership sponsored by various gas and electric utility companies that disburses these energy efficiency funds through funding energy conservation projects for consumers,” the statement from federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the brothers paid tens of thousands of dollars in cash bribes and other benefits, like a John Deere tractor and free electrical work, to unnamed company associates in exchange for the associate’s help in securing millions of dollars in Mass Save contracts for the brothers.

Prosecutors accused the brothers of concocting an elaborate scheme together that involved Joseph paying an associate $1,000 in cash weekly from 2013 to 2017. Sometimes, court records show that Christopher paid the associate sums anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 in order to keep up the scheme.

Prosecutors said the associate allegedly helped Joseph set up a shell company in his spouse’s name in order to hide $7 million in profits from the Mass Save contracts. When the associate left the company in 2017, prosecutors said the brothers recruited a second associate to keep the scam going from 2018 to around 2022. Both brothers falsely claimed they were not bribing associates to federal investigators in 2022, prosecutors said.

Court documents said that Joseph filed false tax returns from 2016 to 2019 to keep up the scam. He would disguise personal expenses as business deductions by using his credit card to make purchases in the thousands at The Home Depot, Lowes, and Staples. Joseph claimed the purchases were business-related, but prosecutors said he and his partner spent the money purchasing gift cards for their own expenditures.

Brothers face more than 20 years in prison

Prosecutors laid out the federal charges, saying that each charge of wire fraud carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. In addition, false statement charges come with a sentence of up to five years in prison, as well as up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Filing false tax returns could be another three years in prison, along with a fine of up to $100,000.

The brothers will be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton in February 2025, the statement said. Representation for the brothers did not immediately reply to request for comment.