Kurt C. Claywell, 51, owner of Claywell Electric Co. Inc. and Claywell Inc., both of Simsbury, pleaded guilty to making false statements on his 2000 federal income tax return and billing his now-deceased father's long-term care insurance policy for 18 months of fictitious nursing home stays. Each of those bills was for about $8,000.

The guilty pleas come at a time when a federal grand jury is investigating the manner in which the state awarded contracts to the Tomasso Group, a New Britain-based developer with ties to former top aides of Gov. John G. Rowland. Claywell worked for Tomasso on the Juvenile Training School in Middletown, a project being examined by the FBI. Tomasso has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Claywell's guilty plea to 21 of 31 charges before U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall on Wednesday was unusual. First, both Assistant U.S. Attorney William A. Nardini and Claywell's attorney, Stanley A. Twardy Jr., told the judge that no plea agreement had been reached, as is the usual case in a guilty plea. They also advised her that the remaining 10 charges would be tried and not dismissed at sentencing, as is normally the case.

Nardini also advised Hall he opposed giving Claywell any break during sentencing for pleading guilty to the 21 charges.

Nardini accused Claywell of creating fake accounting documents for his business, which falsified personal expenditures as legitimate business expenses.

The documents claimed the altered expenses were incurred while the company performed electrical work on the Juvenile Training School in Middletown, the Stamford Superior Courthouse and the Hartford Public Library.

The documents were given to the IRS.

The false records were created for an IRS audit. Prosecutors made no claim that state money paid for any of the items.

A federal grand jury indictment alleges that the personal expenses included the purchase of a speedboat, various household appliances, a $43,578 birthday party for his wife and his son's tuition at the prestigious Cushing Academy.

Payment for the birthday party was written off on falsified Claywell Electric internal records as representing work done on the Juvenile Training School and a Claywell employee conference with state Department of Public Works officials, according to the indictment.

The indictment also alleges that Claywell's son's tuition was written off on company records as expenses for the Juvenile Training Center, while the speedboat and appliances were written off as expenses for the Stamford courthouse project.

The indictment alleges that Claywell failed to report any of these expenses paid by his company on his federal income tax returns.

Twardy, one of Claywell's three lawyers, said the defense disputes several of the charges.

Nardini said Claywell also failed to report interest, dividends and stock sale profits derived from accounts controlled in a fictitious pension plan for Inter-Island Holding and Development Inc., a Bahamas-based corporation he created.

Claywell admitted he deposited more than $1.5 million from the sale of his house into that plan in 2000.

Nardini claimed none of that interest was among the $173,298 in income Claywell reported on his 2000 return.

Bernard Sullivan, the former head of the Hartford and State Police, who is now a Tomasso vice president, confirmed that Claywell Electric was a subcontractor for the Tomasso Group on the Juvenile Training School project.

However, Sullivan said Claywell has not performed any work for Tomasso since that project. Sullivan added he's only been with Tomasso for two years and could not assess Claywell's work.

During the court session, Hall questioned Claywell for more than two hours to determine if pleading guilty was what he really wanted to do.

Both Claywell and Twardy agreed that they wanted to go forward with the guilty pleas, which carry a maximum 103-year prison term.

Claywell still faces charges of conspiring to impede the IRS by submitting the false internal accounting documents, filing false 1996 through 1999 personal tax returns, underreporting wages on quarterly employment tax returns and possessing a firearm despite having a federal conviction for embezzling money from a pension fund.

Claywell's guilty plea comes less than 12 hours after a certified public accountant who worked for Claywell, waived indictment and pleaded guilty before Hall.

In documents filed in federal court here, he agreed that he and Claywell conspired to create false documents given to the IRS.

During the proceedings, he signed a four-page letter agreeing to cooperate with the ongoing probe and be interviewed by FBI Special Agent William Grattan, U.S. Postal Inspector Mark Borofsky and IRS Special Agent Thomas Mulligan.

He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine during his July 29 sentencing.

Hall did not set a sentencing date for Claywell because of the possibility of a trial on the additional charges.

Michael P. Mayko, who covers legal issues, can be reached at 330-6286.