A Delmar man was sentenced on Jan. 3 to four years in state prison as a second felony offender; the prison time will be followed by five years of post-release supervision.

Frank Markus, 50, of 489 Orchard St., was sentenced by Judge Peter A. Lynch in Albany County Court.

He had pleaded guilty on Nov. 11 to one count of second-degree attempted burglary for a crime he committed a month before, on Oct. 10.

That evening, he took a taxi from Albany to Wormer Road in Guilderland, walked into a house through an unlocked door, and, while the 90-year-old resident watched, stole a jar containing small bills and lose change totaling $150, according to police. 

Markus then left the man’s home, and got back in the taxi. He wanted a ride back to Albany, the driver who alerted police said, but instead the cabbie drove him to the Price Chopper in the Hamilton Square Plaza (formerly 20 Mall), where he cashed in the change using a Coin Star machine, police say.

“The defendant knew that the elderly man lived at that residence and targeted him,” said Cecilia Walsh, spokeswoman for the Albany County District Attorney’s Office, by e-mail, responding to an Enterprise question.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Hauf of the Major Offense Unit prosecuted the case.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer