Plymouth schools’ former director of food services who stole thousands of dollars of food and equipment has signed a plea deal with federal prosecutors in exchange for a prison sentence of less than a year.
Patrick Van Cott, 64, of Sandwich, was charged earlier this week in a 11-year fraud scheme in which he resold food he stole from the schools and made off with thousands of dollars in equipment used in his side business at the Snack Shack on Cape Cod.
“I am entering into this agreement freely and voluntarily and because I am in fact guilty of the offenses,” Van Cott wrote in a document dated April 21 and filed in federal court. “I believe this agreement is in my best interest.”
He is set to appear before a federal judge on May 14 to officially enter the plea.
If the federal judge accepts the agreement, his prison sentence should fall between 4 and 10 months, followed by 36 months of supervised release, and an undetermined amount of financial restitution, records show.
He has agreed to plead guilty to all charges filed in federal court this week: Theft from the federal school lunch program — and wire fraud.
Van Cott, who held the job for 22 years, was accused of a brazen, decade-long scheme to steal food and equipment, which he used or sold at the Snack Shack, his business on Barnstable’s Sandy Neck beach.
He was fired last year after the alleged fraud scheme was discovered.
He allegedly stole everything from paper goods to premium burgers to use or sell at the Snack Shack.
Every summer starting in 2014, according to federal prosecutors, he collected condiments, hot dogs, snacks, coffee and other items paid for by the schools or provided by the federal school lunch program and delivered them to the Snack Shack.
And once or twice a week, prosecutors allege, Van Cott ordered school food service employees to slice at least nine pounds of deli turkey and four and a half pounds of deli ham and place them boxed into a school department refrigerator, with the initials “PVC” on the boxes.
He ordered eight cases of premier burger patties — at a cost of $3,199.20 — and charged them to the schools, prosecutors alleged in charging papers filed earlier this week. They were later sold at the Snack Shack.
Besides food and paper items, Van Cott also was charged with outfitting his business with expensive restaurant equipment — compliments of the school department.
These included two $2,200 refrigerators, a $3,950 freezer, hot plates, griddle, a fryolator, shelving, a sandwich prep table, a convection oven and hanging chalk boards.
It is still unclear how the alleged thievery went on for so long without being detected.
The investigation began in May 2025 when assistant school superintendent Eric Cioffi received an anonymous letter.
The letter said Van Cott had been spotted stealing commercial equipment and food from the Plymouth Community Intermediate School on Long Pond Road.
Van Cott also allegedly stole two undercounter commercial refrigerators, including one on April 5, 2025, Plymouth police alleged.
Police pulled school department video footage which allegedly showed him loading a $2,268.99 stainless steel undercounter refrigerator onto the back of his pickup truck.
Additional video footage from the same day at Sagamore Bridge showed Van Cott traveling east on the bridge toward Cape Cod, with the refrigerator in the bed of his truck, police said.
Van Cott was then arrested and charged with larceny by Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz. The charges were limited to the incidents caught on surveillance in 2025.
Though a program receiving federal funds and wire fraud — carried the possibility of a much longer prison sentence and hefty fines, prosecutors agreed to the shorter prison term in exchange for his admission of guilt and plea. One reason for the lighter prison term is his lack of a criminal record, documents show.
By pleading guilty under the terms of the agreement, Van Cott will give up his right to appeal his conviction or his sentence.
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.