The story details criminal charges against a long-serving school food director accused of diverting school-purchased food and commercial kitchen equipment to a private seasonal beach business called “Snack Shack,” with federal prosecutors outlining alleged thefts, equipment purchases, and specific food quantities tied to the scheme that stretched from about 2014 to June 2025.
Patrick Van Cott, 64, of Sandwich, Mass., was charged with one count of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and two counts of wire fraud, and he will make an initial appearance in federal court in Boston at a later date. Van Cott served as Director of Food Services for the Plymouth Public Schools from 2003 until June 2025, according to the charging document. Authorities say the scheme began around 2014 and ran through June 2025, overlapping with his seasonal business activities.
Starting in approximately 2014, Van Cott operated a seasonal business called the “Snack Shack” on Sandy Neck Beach in Barnstable, Mass. Federal filings allege that he used food and commercial kitchen equipment bought with school funds, including U.S. Department of Agriculture funds, to stock and run that private operation. The indictment portrays a pattern in which school-purchased items were diverted each summer to support the beach concession.
The equipment Van Cott is alleged to have ordered with school funds includes two $2,200 refrigerators; a $3,950 two-door freezer; two 12-inch hot plates; a 24-inch griddle; a chargrill; a fryolator; shelving; a sandwich prep table; a convection oven; and hanging chalkboards. Beyond appliances, prosecutors say he collected condiments, diced chicken, hot dogs, cooking oil, snacks, paper goods, coffee, food products and other miscellaneous items paid for by the Plymouth Public Schools or supplied by the USDA. Those supplies are alleged to have been used and sold at the “Snack Shack.”
The charging document further alleges that Van Cott directed Plymouth Public Schools cafeteria workers to slice at least nine pounds of deli turkey and 4.5 pounds of deli ham, which he sold in various menu items at the “Snack Shack,” once or twice per week starting in 2014. It also alleges he ordered over $3,000 in premium burger patties with school funds that were then sold as menu items at the beach kiosk. These specifics form part of the prosecution’s account of how school resources were redirected to a private enterprise.
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted program administered on the federal level by the USDA that provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to public school children. In Massachusetts, meals for all students are free, and schools are reimbursed for meals through a combination of USDA funds and state funds. Prosecutors emphasize that funds and supplies intended to support student nutrition carry federal protections and reporting obligations.
The charge of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
