A former Stoneham police officer and his brother, who owns an electrical contracting company, have pleaded guilty to a criminal charge. bribery and kickback scheme that netted them millions of dollars in Mass Save contractsthe federal prosecutor said Thursday.

Joseph Ponzo, 51, of Stoneham and Christopher Ponzo, 50, of North Reading, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and 24 counts of honest services wire fraud, and one count of make false statements to government officials. Acting U.S. Attorney Josh Levy said in a statement.

Joseph Ponzo also pleaded guilty to four counts of causing false tax returns to be filed with the Internal Revenue Service from 2016 to 2019. U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel Gorton scheduled sentencing for February 2025. .

The brothers were arrested on the charges in April 2022.

“Virtually all Massachusetts residents who use energy pay a surcharge and pay for Mass Save,” then-U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement following their arrests in April 2022.

“These payments are mandatory and amount to hundreds of millions of dollars,” Rollins said at the time. “Defrauding the Mass Save program of millions of dollars means we will all have to foot the bill. “It is corruption at its core and will not be tolerated.”

From 2013 to 2022, the brothers conspired to bribe associates of a leading Mass Save supplier company that netted them both millions of dollars in Mass Save contracts, prosecutors said.

Mass Save is a program designed to help Massachusetts residents manage their energy and utility costs.

Under the program, utilities choose leading vendors to approve and select contractors to perform energy improvement work for residential customers. This contracting work, carried out by contractors at no or reduced cost to the client, is then paid for by the main supplier company with Mass Save funds.

Prosecutors said the Ponzo brothers paid the supplier company’s employees with home bathroom fixtures, a computer, free electrical work and a John Deere tractor, plus weekly cash bribes ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. In exchange, the brothers received a purchase worth millions in Mass Save contracts with the supplier company.

From 2013 to 2017, Christopher Ponzo paid an associate $1,000 in cash weekly, prosecutors said. Christopher Ponzo sometimes paid that associate between $5,000 and $10,000 in cash, telling him that the extra money belonged to Joseph Ponzo for his participation in the bribery scheme.

In exchange for these payments, the associate helped Joseph Ponzo establish a shell company, Air Tight, to perform insulation work and obtain approval as a prime contractor under the Mass Save program. Prosecutors said Joseph Ponzo put his spouse’s name on Air Tight’s incorporation and licensing documents to conceal his involvement in corruption.

Joseph Ponzo raised more than $7 million under the Mass Save program, despite having no professional experience in residential insulation work, prosecutors said.

When that associate left the company in 2017, prosecutors said the Ponzos recruited another associate into the bribery scheme, paying them thousands of dollars in cash between approximately 2018 and 2022, and also hired a relative of the second associate as part of the process. in progress. scheme.

Joseph Ponzo also filed false tax returns from 2016 to 2019 by claiming hundreds of thousands of dollars in false business deductions, prosecutors said.

To disguise personal expenses as business deductions, Joseph Ponzo used his company credit card to make hundreds of thousands of dollars in purchases at The Home Depot, Lowes and Staples, claiming to his tax preparers that the charges at those stores were related to the business, prosecutors said. saying. In reality, Joseph Ponzo used the company credit card at those stores to purchase gift cards that he and his spouse then used to make thousands of dollars in personal purchases.

In April 2022, both Joseph Ponzo and Christopher Ponzo lied to federal agents when they denied paying bribes to any company employees, prosecutors said.

The wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud charges each carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

The false statements charges carry a penalty of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

The charges of assisting in filing false tax returns each carry a sentence of up to three years in prison, up to one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $100,000.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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