Fuelberg gets probation for stealing from members
The former Pedernales Electrical Cooperative (Johnson City, Texas) executive convicted of stealing from its members will not spend any time behind bars. Jurors in Gillespie County sentenced Bennie Fuelberg to probation, and a $30,000 fine.
Fuelberg's terminally ill wife broke down on the witness stand Monday, asking jurors to be merciful in sentencing her husband on the charges the largest public electricity co-op in the nation. "He loved PEC. He loved PEC," Jeanie Fuelberg repeated tearfully, apologizing to the judge for her strong emotion.
She told the jurors she is terminally ill, suffering from myelofibrosis - a progressive disorder of the bone marrow. She said her 66-year-old husband is her primary caretaker - a role he wouldn't be able fill from prison.
Fuelberg is the former PEC senior manager. PEC is the largest public power co-op in the nation.
Fuelberg was found guilty Friday by a Gillespie County jury of third degree theft, money laundering and misapplication of fiduciary property. The charges stem from the payment of of thousands of dollars of co-op money to relatives of PEC executives between the mid-1990s and 2007. Indictments showed more than $200,000 went to Curtis Fuelberg, Bennie Fuelberg's brother and William Price, a Lampasas attorney and the son of former PEC Director E.B. Price.
Fuelberg could have received up to 20 years in prison for the crimes. A judge will determine the terms of his probation in January.
Walter Demond, the co-op's outside attorney at Clark, Thomas & Winters , an Austin law firm, was also indicted on the same charges.
The prosecution wrapped up its case by 11 a.m., having called John Watson, a PEC member to the stand, Luis Garcia, PEC's general counsel and a fraud investigator with a consulting firm that conducted an audit on PEC that showed mishandling of funds.
Monday morning prosecutors called Todd Lester, director of Navigant Consulting , to the stand in an effort to show the jury Fuelberg disregarded Texas law and profited from a project known as the Texland Electric Cooperative--a failed plan to generate power to Pedernales.
An audit by Navigant Consulting found that Fuelberg was paid $6.3 million between 1998 and 2007.
Lester told jurors his audit showed Fuelberg was funding family trips on PEC money.
"I'd say his wife came with him on about 25 percent of 150 trips," Lester testified.
Lester also estimated Fuelberg used $32,000 of PEC money to pay for his wife's plane tickets to multiple locations, such as Boston.
During cross-examination, attorney Chris Gunter tried to show the jury that other PEC directors were along on these trips and also took their spouses along.
"Did you look for the records recording other PEC directors?" Gunter asked Lester.
"Some of the wives went, and we found expense for hotels and airfare," Lester testified and later agreed that the PEC board, who decided travel policies, did lack oversight on the matter.
Lester also testified that while the co-op did flourish under Fuelberg, the co-op's expenses "outpaced revenue."
Luis Garcia was recalled to the stand by prosecutors. He testified that since the arrest and conviction of Fuelberg, co-op members have lost trust.
"Even if we are making decisions in public at public meetings, there is suspicion," Garcia explained.
PEC member John Watson also testified that during Fuelberg's control of PEC, he was shut out of closed door meetings and members like himself were trying to get involved but were shut out.
Defense attorneys called their first few witnesses to help establish that Fuelberg is a good candidate for probation.
BIll Knight, a Blanco probation officer, was the first to take the stand. Next, Lamont Ramage, a former federal probation officer who used to be a PEC board member took the stand.
Both Knight and Ramage testified that they knew of no reason why Fuelberg would not make his probation terms if given probation.
A few of Fuelberg's Dripping Springs neighbors, his pastor and a former co-worker also praised Fuelberg as a 'trustworthy' and 'good person.'
Demond will be tried separately next year.
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