The Bible tells us, “So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain.”
Eric DiBartolo is a longtime resident of Yorktown, my hometown. He graduated from Yorktown High School and stayed in town, rising to become the Highway Superintendent, from (1995-2013) head of the volunteer fire department and frequently seen on News 12 when a snowstorm would be coming.
DiBartolo also served as the President of the Yorktown Chamber of Commerce, and was a powerful member of the Yorktown Republican party. To say that DiBartolo was a prominent and respected member of Yorktown would be an understatement… until last week, when he was arrested for a petty scheme to steal $15,000 worth of building supplies from Home Depot.
DiBartolo, who many believe is a millionaire based on his large salary for years as Highway Superintendent, his pension, and his other business ventures over the years including a local funeral home, was arrested on Jan. 6, but the news of this did not come out until late January.
He was arrested by Westchester Police because the crimes occured at the Home Depot in Cortlandt Manor. He faces charges which could put him in jail, the most serious of which are four counts of felony grand larceny, and 19 misdemeanor counts of petit larceny.
Published reports have police stating that DiBartolo worked with a Home Depot clerk to steal goods from the store by having the clerk NOT scan many items, in essence, giving them to DiBartolo for free. The clerk involved in the scam was also arrested. Tyrone Bass faces similar charges.
One example, from Westchester County police spokesman Kieran O’Leary, was when DiBartolo is charged with not paying for $1,200 worth of merchandise while being billed $89 for a few items in his cart.
Bass is said to have received a few hundred dollars total for the 23 times that this happened, or the 23 times that Home Depot knows it happened. How many times the two worked the scheme before someboody figured it out is unknown. Both will be charged in Cortlandt Town Court this month.
Another interesting twist to DiBartolo’s thefts is that it cost the taxpayers in the Town of Cortlandt, and the Lakeland School district more than $1,300 in lost sales tax revenues. So all of us in these districts were also taken by DiBartolo, making this reporter wonder what other schemes and scandal are in DiBartolo’s long history working for the taxpayers, we don’t work for you sir.
Yorktown Supervisor Matt Slater said, “It is always disappointing and disturbing when a public official is accused of wrongdoing. It’s now in the hands of the justice system to investigate and determine the outcome.”
One of DiBartolo’s campaigns for Highway Superintendent was against Stephen Gardner in 2008. Gardner who works in the construction industry called it “hard to believe,” that DiBartolo would stoop this low and try to steal from Home Depot 23 times. “It sounds so ridiculous for someone like him to get involved in something so petty,” said Gardner, echoing the sentiment of many in Yorktown, who are asking Why Did He do This?
DiBartolo also has a few other “strange occurances” in his history, two of which have been reported and rehashed in the local media.
DiBartolo sued former Yorktown Supervisor Susan Siegel in 2010 for defamation, based on an off handed comment made to only one other person in the Yorktown School District. DiBartolo alleged in court that Siegels comments, (all that she said was that DiBartolo had “a relationship’ with the sister of a school district employee that works in the highway department) were allegations that he was having a “sexual relationship” with the same women. No evidence was found that Supervisor Siegel, who was an honorable Town official, had alleged a “sexual relationship.”
More legal battles included a laborer in the Highway Department, Kyle Gulitz, accusing DiBartolo of allowing a continuous barrage of anti-Semitic remarks. That case never made it to trial.
And another involving William LaPierre, owner of Clark Funeral Home. DiBartolo worked for Yorktown Funeral Home, a new funeral home in town directly competing with the longtime, well-known and respected Clark.
LaPierre had filed a taxpayer’s lawsuit against DiBartolo based on a 2011 State Comptroller’s audit which raised concerns about a $100,000 contract between the Town and a company where two of DiBartolo’s brothers worked. That case was withdrawn and never addressed in court.
Yorktown Town Board member Vishnu Patel said, “I think he’ll (DiBartolo) be gone once and for all,”
The other unknown question at this time is, how did Home Depot find out about this?
Patch.com printed this headline back in 2011, Critics of Yorktown Highway Superintendent Allege Corruption, Criminal Activity to DA’s Office.
It appears that Mr. DiBartolo, with his foolish thefts, may have opened a larger ‘can of worms’ into his history. More on this story in the weeks to come. Any information can be emailed to dmurphy@risingmediagroup.com .
