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Eric Shortt collected $78K for odd jobs never completed
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Credit union stops additional $102K withdrawal from victim’s state retirement account
DELMAR – An elderly Delmar woman paid a Cambridge man over $78,000 for work that he either did not do or did not complete over three months in 2023. Eric Shortt, 57, was arrested on Tuesday, Oct. 29 after a year-long investigation and charged with grand larceny- third degree – over $3,000 and grand larceny- second degree – over $50,000, both felonies.
According to reports, the victim lives alone in center Delmar with her cat and has no local family members. She was allegedly contacted by Shortt in August to see if there were jobs that needed to be done at her house. She does not drive and walks to the Four Corners to get her groceries.
The victim said she did hire Shortt and another person with him to remove a tree and do work in her basement due to flooding. She wrote Shortt checks for $6,000, $8,500 and $5,000 on August 9, 2023, a check for $8,500 on August 11, 2023 and checks for $7,500, $6,500 and 4,800 on October 20, 2023. When Bethlehem detectives visited her house, there was no evidence that any tree was removed from the property and did see a new water heater and some grooves cut in her basement floor.
The victim said that Shortt did not provide any receipts, contract agreements, material expenses or labor rates. The contractors did, however, ask her for her credit cards, birth certificate and social security number, but the victim does not believe that she gave them to the men.
The contractors did drive the victim to multiple Broadview Branches to cash check and withdraw money between August and October.
The scheme was uncovered when the manager of the Broadview Credit Union branch in Slingerlands called police on October 24, 2023 to report possible fraud. The victim had come to the branch with a $102,688.17 check from the New York State Deferred Compensation plan, but said to the manager she did not remember asking to withdraw money from her account. The manager did not cash the check, called the State to cancel the check and kept the cancelled check for the police. The manager also called Adult Protective Services about possible fraud.
Bethlehem police called three different agencies to get help for the victim and inquire about the case filed with Adult Protective Service, but none were available for a few days. They eventually met with the victim and a representative from Adult Protective Services that took over finances for her for a short time because her closest relative lives in Texas.
Police met with Shortt in February and he said that he did various jobs for the victim and claimed he did take down a tree for the woman and had the stump ground down, but detectives found no evidence that took place. Broadview provided copies of checks totaling $78,300 that were made out to Shortt and cashed.
Shortt was arraigned by Bethlehem Town Judge Thresa Egan and released on his own recognizance. Under State law, judges cannot set bail on those charges.
He is due back in court on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
