Mayor Mark Lauretti said he was unaware that his building inspector was allegedly on the take for years — or that the feds knew about it.
“I am a little bit surprised,” Lauretti said Wednesday, hours after Eliott Wilson admitted in federal court that he lied to a grand jury about accepting cash, gift certificates and other favors from developers doing business in Shelton.
The mayor said he would be talking to Wilson Thursday morning.
“I’m honestly disappointed,” Lauretti said. “He’s been a longtime city employee. I don’t know all the details associated with it. We’re going to have to do a little bit more research and investigate how it ties into the city.”
Wilson, 66, faces a maximum five years in prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty to a single felony charge of making a false statement to a grand jury.
But taking into account the severity of the crime and Wilson’s lack of a criminal history, U.S. District Judge Charles Haight said the sentence would more likely be between 10 and 16 months in prison.
Wilson is the first public official to admit wrongdoing during the government’s long-running investigation into bribery allegations among developers and officials in Shelton.
Federal prosecutors have not said whether other public officials or developers will face charges — but court documents indicate the criminal probe goes much deeper than just the building official.
Several media outlets — and William Dow III, the lawyer of indicted developer James Botti — have said Lauretti is the “public official no. 1” named in court documents.
However, Lauretti has maintained his innocence. And voters — satisfied with a low mill rate and a solid quality of life — overwhelmingly re-elected him to the mayor’s office in November.
Botti, has already been indicted and found guilty of two charges during a trial in November.
A Decade of (Illegal) Gifts
Wilson has been taking favors and money from at least two developers since 1999, the government charged.
Federal prosecutors said Wilson took $2,500 in cash from “Developer A” while inspecting one of the developer’s projects.
“Developer A” also allegedly gave Wilson building supplies, the prosecutors said.
Another developer, referred to in documents as “Developer B,” helped Wilson get a lower than market-rate price on a car from a dealership.
When FBI agents questioned Wilson in February 2009, he lied to them about the cash. Later that month, Wilson also lied to a federal grand jury investigating corruption in Shelton.
The Plea
The news of Wilson’s plea was sudden: Wednesday was his first court appearance.
But, behind the scenes, Wilson has been talking with federal prosecutors, trying to work out a deal, since at least September.
A plea bargain between Wilson and the government had an original deadline of Sept. 30, 2009.
Wilson and his attorney Michael Hillis declined to comment after his appearance.
Reaction
Alderman John “Jack” Finn also expressed surprise at Wilson’s guilty plea.
“He’s a fine gentleman,” Finn said. “He does an excellent job for the City of Shelton and I’m sorry to see that he got caught up in this.”
When asked if Wilson was the first of more arrests to come in the corruption probe, Thomas Carson, the spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office, said only “the investigation is ongoing.”
Others wonder, who will be the next person charged in the probe, considering the amount of detail provided in Botti’s indictment.
In Botti’s indictment, U.S. attorneys claim that Botti allowed “Public Official #1” to reach into a safe and take out cash, in exchange for help getting Botti’s development projects passed.
The indictment also alleges that Botti paid for renovations to that public official’s home in October 2002.
The indictment also claims that Botti gave gift certificates to and made payments for members of the Planning and Zoning Commission in exchange for approval of his plans.
More details could be coming, as Botti will soon face a second trial to hear the corruption charges of conspiracy to defraud the citizens of Shelton, bribery of a public official and mail fraud.
In the meantime, some say the investigation has a negative affect on Shelton.
“Anything like this in any community does have an affect on it,” Finn said. “And it will take time for those in the community to have trust in their local and appointed officials in the future.”
“A year ago I said there was a dark cloud hanging over Shelton,” said Chris Jones, one of Lauretti’s challengers for mayor in 2009. “I guess that the dark cloud has just gotten darker.”
