Man Pleads Guilty to Bilking Water District of $2.2 Million
A Seal Beach management consultant accused of bilking the Irvine Ranch Water District out of $2.2 million pleaded guilty to grand theft Tuesday.
Robert Edward Baier will not serve any prison time but must pay $210,000 in restitution, Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Sevigny said. Baier’s attorney did not return calls for comment Tuesday.
Baier’s guilty plea comes four days after another accused participant in the scheme, consultant J. Randall Ismay, withdrew his guilty plea.
Ismay admitted in March that he and two other consultants, including Baier, submitted phony applications for rebates on water conservation equipment between 1994 and 1997. He withdrew his guilty plea Friday and will stand trial June 26, Sevigny said.
Former Irvine Ranch Water District manager Wayne Melvin Smith, who ran the water conservation program, pleaded guilty along with Ismay in March to orchestrating the elaborate, two-year scheme.
Under the plea agreement, he will spend five years in prison and reimburse the district $2.2 million.
The third management consultant, Robert William Casey, has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial June 12.
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