Mother, son convicted of defrauding elderly victim in Ulster County

GARDINER, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The Ulster County District Attorney’s Office (UCDA) announced that 53-year-old Stephenie Melton of Poughkeepsie and her son, 29-year-old Travis Pettit of Highland, were convicted in a fraud case on Monday. The victim, Sandra Teneyck of Gardiner, was Melton’s mother and Pettit’s grandmother, according to the UCDA.

Melton was found guilty of taking advantage of Teneyck after assuming responsibility for her finances after Teneyck suffered a stroke in 2022. Melton was given access to her mother’s bank account, and investigators determined that she fraudulently depleted over $40,000 in funds from the account between 2022 and 2025, including payments from social security, annuity, and a $16,000 settlement payment.

Detectives later learned that Pettit forged his grandmother’s signature across multiple instances to exploit her insurance policy. Teneyck died on June 29 while proceedings in the case were pending. She was 78 years old.

“This type of abuse is made worse by the fact that it was done by the victim’s daughter and grandson, especially during a most vulnerable time in her life,” Ulster County District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji stated. “It is only a despicable daughter and grandson who would do such a thing. Shame! Unfortunately, there’s a lot of such greed around us, some of them being exposed in our Surrogates Courts. We must put a stop to such greed; our elderly deserve to enjoy the benefits of their savings and lifetime of hard work.”

“After her death, justice required that Sandra Teneyck and her loyal family be vindicated and have their day in court. It was an honor to seek justice for them,” said Assistant District Attorney Sohil Sharedalal, who headed the case’s prosecution. “I also hope the community learns about the nuanced signs of a slow but steady exploitation of vulnerable senior citizens by perpetrators who are usually in a steadfast position of trust.”

Melton was convicted of third-degree grand larceny, and Pettit was convicted of two counts of second-degree forgery and first-degree identity theft. The mother and son are scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Bryan Rounds on December 4.