A man accused of defrauding dozens of people around the country in business deals that include hay and maple syrup was supposed to resolve his criminal cases next week. But that’s no longer happening after new allegations surfaced, saying he’d taken close to $100,000 from two New York women in violation of court orders.
Richard Blackmer Jr., 41, was set to be sentenced in state court Thursday for four offenses, including a 2019 felony charge of false pretenses against a Massachusetts woman. He’d earlier admitted failing to deliver 120 bales of hay to this customer despite being paid $1,140 while he was in Bennington County.
The Bennington County State’s Attorney’s Office said it intended to seek up to 10 years in prison, based on prosecutors’ plea deal with Blackmer, which recommended dismissing his 70-plus other charges.
Before his sentencing could take place, however, Blackmer was back in Bennington Superior Criminal Court on Dec. 19 to plead not guilty to a new charge: violating conditions of release.
Since he was arrested in April 2020, the court has allowed Blackmer to be free from jail on the condition he follow certain orders. Among them is that he should not engage in any contract that involves more than $500, unless he has court approval.
But Blackmer, who has since moved from Shaftsbury to White Creek, New York, allegedly didn’t comply.
According to Vermont State Police, between March 2021 and July 2022, he had taken a combined $93,800 from two New York women in exchange for providing them with hay, home and farm equipment, and home repair work.
A police statement of probable cause for the misdemeanor charge, prepared by Trooper Nicholas Grimes, states that Blackmer’s contact with the women began when he met Edith Wojnarowski, now 76, at a New York farm and garden store where he was working. Wojnarowski’s husband had been ill then, and Blackmer reportedly offered to do home repairs her husband was unable to do.
Grimes said that over a period of 16 months, Wojnarowski and her daughter, Deborah Marshall, paid Blackmer to provide them with products such as hay, round bale holders, a new deck, a lawn mower and bags of salt. The women apparently reported that Blackmer never delivered these products – except for the hay, which still came out $10,000 short.
The investigator said the women — who had both lost their husbands and lived together — also gave him money to do work around their home, including painting, installing flooring, electrical work, installing closet doors and putting up the deck. Blackmer allegedly either didn’t do the agreed-upon jobs, did substandard work or hired subcontractors to do some of the tasks.
As police documented in his older criminal charges, Blackmer reportedly also provided the women a litany of excuses on why he couldn’t deliver the products or services. A new excuse he gave, according to the police affidavit, was that “E.T. came to earth and he had a conversation with him,” referring to the extraterrestrial title character in the 1982 Steven Spielberg film.
Other complainants previously said Blackmer’s excuses encompassed issues with his truck, his employees, the weather, the bank, the post office, child care, his grandfather’s death, his father’s health, his son’s health or his health — including one instance in which Blackmer made it appear he had open heart surgery, went into a coma and died.
After Wojnarowski and her daughter threatened to go to the police, the police affidavit states he’d been trying to pay them back and “be nice to them” by sending them flowers and attempting to give them two horses.
At Blackmer’s arraignment on Dec. 19, Judge Kerry Ann McDonald-Cady allowed him to remain free on his own recognizance, a written promise to appear in court when required. His next hearing in the case is on Feb. 24.
This isn’t the first time Blackmer is charged with violating the court order against engaging in contracts beyond $500. He has been accused of getting repairs worth $5,000 done on his pickup truck in 2021, and not paying the auto repair shop in full. He had admitted to this misdemeanor as part of his plea deal.
Blackmer’s defense attorney, Matthew Hart, couldn’t be reached for comment on Thursday.
Blackmer’s sentencing hearing on the older criminal cases has been moved to June 1.
