Stevenson Co-op official will plead guilty to bribery charge
Bruce Purdy has filed court papers accepting a plea deal in North Alabama Electric Cooperative bribery case
STEVENSON, Alabama (WDEF) – Reports in Alabama say the head of North Alabama Electric Cooperative has struck a deal over bribery accusations.
According to court papers filed last week, Bruce Purdy will plead guilty in federal court to a bribery charge in October.
In the plea agreement, he admits that he instructed the Co-op to continue paying a company even after they finished their work.
NAEC paid the company another $200,000 and they gave $135,000 of it back to Purdy.
The board got a tip about the scam in late 2021.
When confronted about the bribe, Purdy told the board it was just payment of a personal loan he had given to the owner of the company.
In the plea agreement, Purdy has agreed to pay back the money in exchange for a lesser prison sentence.
North Alabama Electric Cooperative is based in Stevenson, Alabama and provides power to most of Jackson County.
