BENNINGTON — A New York man who admitted to scamming multiple people around the country in deals involving hay and maple syrup was sentenced Friday to five to 10 years in Vermont prison.

The court judgment came a decade after Vermont’s earliest recorded fraud complaint against Richard Blackmer — and five years after he began amassing 80 fraud-related misdemeanor and felony charges in the state. He previously pleaded guilty to a handful of charges under a deal with state prosecutors.

State police earlier said that, since 2013, Blackmer had received around $500,000 from dozens of customers in and out of Vermont but had only delivered half that value as of 2021. Blackmer’s attorney acknowledged the years-long scheme as “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

Jennifer Shute-Murphy, one of the complainants who spoke at the hearing, said she had to give up on a dream to build her own home after being set back $3,000 on a hay purchase that Blackmer never delivered.

“I’ll be very surprised if I get any restitution back from him,” she said. “I just wish he could understand the impact that he has (had) on all of these people.”

Given Blackmer’s pattern of criminal behavior, Bennington Superior Court Judge Kerry McDonald-Cady said a prison sentence was necessary to keep the public safe from him. She denied defense attorney Matthew Hart’s request for a probationary sentence, which he argued would allow Blackmer to keep working and pay back the complainants while being supervised by corrections officials.

“Mr. Blackmer’s conduct reflected the work of a professional con artist, taking advantage of individuals, small business owners and farmers across Bennington and beyond the Green Mountain State,” McDonald-Cady said at the hearing Friday morning. “Mr. Blackmer’s victims were hardworking, trusting people who valued the principle of keeping your word.”

Blackmer, 42, who lived in Shaftsbury during most of the alleged crimes, characterized his actions as the failings of a small business owner who became overwhelmed and lost track of his financial obligations. He has since moved to Schaghticoke, New York.

“I took on more and more customers to try and make extra money to pay people back what I owed other people, not thinking how I would get the product to those new people,” Blackmer said in court, reading from a prepared statement. “I truly am sorry for the hurt I caused. I only ever wanted to help people.”

The judge, however, did not accept Blackmer’s explanation. “That’s really not what happened here,” McDonald-Cady later said. “It’s the continuation of engaging in criminal conduct, exploiting individuals and doing that for his own benefit.”

Blackmer also linked his misconduct to a mental health diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder. He described it as a disorder in which a person lacks the ability to understand or care about the feelings of others and derives self-worth from the affirmation of others.

“This helps me understand why I lied and said the things I said,” Blackmer said.

Bennington County Deputy State’s Attorney Robert Plunkett objected when Hart first brought up Blackmer’s mental health diagnosis, saying the defense attorney had given no notice or evidence of this line of argument. Hart conceded, switching to the terms “narcissist” and “pathological liar” to describe his client.

Plunkett said the motivations for Blackmer’s fraudulent behavior had not been clear, though state police had learned that he had a history of gambling. The prosecutor asserted that Blackmer was primarily driven by enjoyment.

“He got pleasure out of swindling these folks,” Plunkett said, arguing for a prison term of nine to 10 years. “He would make a promise knowing he’s not going to keep it. And then he did it over and over and over. There’s no way someone can do that for so long, without having some actual enjoyment from it.”

As of Friday, 42 people officially requested to be paid back by Blackmer after providing evidence of their business dealings with him, according to Bennington County Victim’s Advocate Tammy Loveland. The amount they requested totaled $147,000, she said.

Loveland said her list of complainants against Blackmer has 98 names, but that some have not responded to her emails or calls while others indicated Blackmer has already paid them back.

State police said Blackmer’s fraudulent conduct involved picking up hay from local farms or grain stores and paying with bad checks. They said he would then find customers for the hay and deliver either samples or an initial load.

Investigators said he would con the customers into purchasing additional deliveries, often offering “deals,” and require them to pay upfront. But Blackmer reportedly didn’t deliver the hay after collecting payment.

They said he used a similar method to defraud people of maple syrup, maple syrup equipment, farm equipment and collectible model cars.

Court records show that complainants come from at least a dozen states, including California, Minnesota, Florida, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Police said Blackmer offered a litany of excuses about why he couldn’t deliver the products, refund customers or complete payments on orders he’d made. The excuses supposedly included 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.

Plunkett credited Vermont State Trooper Nick Grimes for the effort he put into uncovering the extent of Blackmer’s fraudulent dealings around the country.

Blackmer was arrested in April 2021 and was released with several court-imposed conditions. Those included not engaging in business dealings through social media or entering into any contract greater than $500 unless he had court approval — but he also violated those conditions, pleading guilty to his latest charge just before being sentenced.

“Prison is too good for him as he will have all of his needs taken care of,” Diane and Marc Cote, another set of complainants, said in their victim impact statement that was read in court Friday.