Norwalk Worker Accused Of Forging $60K In Fake Bids, Cops Say

NORWALK, CT — Over several years, William Howard, a seasonal employee of the Norwalk Recreation and Parks Department, wrote up fake bids to ensure that his sporting goods company won more than $60,000 in city contracts, according to Howard's arrest warrant released this week.

Howard was arrested by Norwalk police last week and charged with 32 counts of second-degree forgery, though authorities believe he may have been forging bids all the way back to 2007. Because of the statute of limitations, police could only charge Howard for alleged crimes dating back to March 2016.

Known as Bill, Howard is the owner of Sonny & Bill's Sports Center in Norwalk, and the investigation began when Norwalk's Superintendent of Recreation Sandy Korkatzis met with police last September after she discovered suspicious invoices.

One of the invoices was from Sonny & Bill's for baseball equipment and t-shirts, which former Athletic Supervisor Gerald Anastasia submitted for payment.

To Korkatzis, this was suspicious because Howard is employed by the city, and as a result, she began to look back at other bids from Sonny & Bill's.

Over several years, Sonny & Bill's kept winning bids for sports equipment, trophies and uniforms by being the low bidder, and in each of those winning bids, the company was lower than Crown Prints in Norwalk or Crown Trophy in New Rochelle, New York.

Anastasia told detectives that over the years, he "did not receive a bid where Bill Howard was not the lowest bidder."

In fact, the bids from Sonny & Bill's and the two separate Crowns were all in the same Word document format. Detectives, who spoke to the owners of Crown Prints and Crown Trophy, discovered that both companies normally use Quicken Books to place bids, not Microsoft Word.

Additionally, detectives discovered that of the dozens of supposed bids from the two Crowns, the owners said they never made them, and Crown Trophy's owner said he's never bid on a Norwalk contract.

Both men, however, knew Howard and had done business with him in the past, according to police. The owner of Crown Prints even told police that he considered Howard to be a friend.

Police believe Howard forged the bids from Crown Prints and Crown Trophy, always making sure that Sonny & Bill's bids were lower. Howard was able to do this, in part, because Anastasia essentially farmed out the bid process to Howard, meaning Howard would provide Anastasia with the bids, often delivering them by hand.

"Anastasia stated he would contact Bill Howard and tell him what he needed and Howard would go and get other bids if needed," according to the warrant. "He stated Howard would then come back and give him bids from Howard's company and a second company."

For Anastasia, the process of going to Howard was faster and easier, and it met the city's Procurement Guidelines of bidding out contracts, because Howard always produced at least one other bid.

For years, even though Anastasia, and possibly others, saw that Sonny & Bill's kept winning bids, no one complained, until Korkatzis noticed.

Patch reached out to attorney Frank Bevilacqua, the Norwalk-based attorney representing Howard, but did not immediately receive a reply for comment.

Additionally, Patch reached out to Nick Roberts, director of Recreation and Parks, who referred questions about the case and Howard's employment status to Josh Morgan, the city's communications director.

"Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation we cannot provide further comment outside of what was in the release from Norwalk PD," Morgan said.

Howard is scheduled to appear in Stamford Superior Court April 23.