BANGOR, Maine — A Vermont man found guilty last year of bilking the town of Brownville out of $300,000 in community block grant money to construct a small manufacturing plant and employ at least 10 area residents was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court to 28 months in federal prison.
Craig Sanborn, 65, of Maidstone, Vermont, also was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $300,000 in restitution to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and a $7,500 fine.
Sanborn is serving a 10- to 20-year sentence in a New Hampshire prison in connection with a 2010 explosion at his New Hampshire gunpowder plant that killed two men and injured a third. He will serve his federal sentence consecutive to his state sentence.
Former Town Manager Sophia Leotsakos-Wilson, now town manager in Orono, told U.S. District Judge John Woodcock that Sanborn’s actions had left “a scar on the community.”
“If another person came forward seeking grant money, voters would think long and hard before voting to support a plan. It is the lasting suspicions and skepticism left behind by his actions that have been most damaging.”
Matthew Pineo, Brownville’s current town manager, told Sanborn: “We forgive you but we will never forget.”
Pineo also serves as president of the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council.
Sanborn apologized to the community.
“I’m sorry I left such a scar,” he said shortly before being sentenced. “They are great people up there and they were wonderful to work with.”
Woodcock, who received 85 letters from Vermont residents in support of the defendant, described Sanborn’s conduct in Brownville as “jarring and surprising.”
A jury found Sanborn guilty of one count of wire fraud in April after a five-day trial in federal court in Bangor.
Jurors found that Sanborn committed wire fraud in connection with the $300,000 grant he received between late 2005 and early 2008 from the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, administered by the town of Brownville, to renovate the former rail terminal, purchase equipment and get the plant up and running, where he said workers would make bullets for muzzle-loading guns.
The jury had to find that all of the following happened:
— A scheme to defraud Brownville existed.
— The scheme involved concealing facts or making false statements.
— Sanborn knowingly and willingly engaged in the scheme to defraud Brownville.
— The scheme was perpetrated over communication wires when fake invoices were faxed to the Brownville town office.
The Department of Economic and Community Development funds come to the state from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Brownville applied for the grant in August 2005 and it was approved the same year, according to court documents. Sanborn had until the end of 2007 to apply for reimbursement for money he spent on the project.
Sanborn faced up to 20 years in prison along with a maximum fine of $250,000. Under the prevailing federal sentencing guidelines, he faced between 37 and 46 months in prison and a fine of between $7,000 and $75,000.
Woodcock said he started with a 37-month sentence and deducted the nine months Sanborn has been incarcerated awaiting sentencing to arrive at a sentence of 28 months.
Sanborn has appealed his New Hampshire conviction to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.