By Mike Donoghue, Standard Correspondent
BURLINGTON – A Woodstock woman, who federal officials say embezzled at least $130,000 from her former employer in Plymouth, has agreed to plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Burlington to a charge of forging securities.
Susan Blaue, 39, denied in April felony counts of forgery, mail fraud and credit card fraud involving ABLE Waste Management, where she worked from July 2012 to January 30, 2015. Under the signed plea agreement, Blaue could be sentenced up to 10 years in prison, fined up to $250,000 and placed on supervised release for 3 years once she is discharged from federal prison. Blaue also agrees to forfeit $105,000 in traceable proceeds that she received in the forgery case, the 10-page agreement said. The judge also must order full restitution – as determined by the court – to the victim.
The money was taken from the waste management business, owned by Arthur Lynds, and two of his related companies, A & M Property Management and Lynds Hill Rentals, the indictment said. “Between approximately March 2013 and January 30, 2015, Blaue defrauded Lynds and his companies of not less than $130,000,” the indictment noted.
Blaue, formerly of Douglas, Mass., is scheduled to formally withdraw her earlier not guilty plea during a court hearing at 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 30 in Burlington. Senior Federal Judge William K. Sessions III is expected to order a Presentence Investigation Report from the U.S. Probation office to cover her lifetime. The sentence will be based in part on the federal sentencing guidelines, which are advisory. Blaue, under the plea agreement, will be sentenced at the low end of the guidelines if she is honest with the Probation Office. She will get some credit for accepting responsibility. The government plans to dismiss the other two felony charges at sentencing and not charge her with any other crimes that they are aware of at this time. Blaue also agrees to commit no new crimes.
Blaue issued numerous business checks to herself without authorization that were drawn from TD Bank, the charges maintained. Blaue also forged the owner’s signature on checks or used his signature rubber stamp without permission, the indictment said. She then deposited the checks into her own bank accounts.
Blaue diverted money to pay her private bills and she used company credit cards issued by TD Bank to make personal purchases, the indictment said.
The Windsor County Sheriff’s Department received a complaint Feb. 2, 2015 about possible suspicious activity and Sgt. Philip Call was assigned to the case. The Sheriff’s Department, after an extensive investigation, ordered Blaue into state criminal court, but local prosecutors later decided to ship the file to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Burlington. The U.S. Secret Service Office in Vermont later joined in the case, which is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples. The company provided Blaue a house it owned on Lynds Hill Road while she was employed by the waste management firm. Blaue either skipped paying her $1,200 a month rent or used checks drawn on either the waste management or property management companies to cover the rent, the charges said.
The company offers curbside garbage routes in Plymouth, Bridgewater, Woodstock, Brownsville, Hartland, Reading, White River Junction, Ascutney, Windsor and surrounding areas.
Blaue, who was a bookkeeper and in charge of payroll, along with accounts payable and receivable for all three companies, began taking money in March 2013, court records show.
The indictment lists 47 checks ranging up to $2,416 unlawfully drawn on the ABLE Waste Management, while another 67 checks ranging up to $1,108 were illegally drawn against A & M Property.
Blaue has been free since her April arraignment on conditions, including limiting her travel to Vermont and New Hampshire and requiring the defendant to surrender her passport and not seek a new one. Chief Federal Judge Christina Reiss also ordered Blaue to participate in mental health treatment as directed and to take medications as prescribed. Blaue also is prohibited from possessing any firearms or destructive devices. Reiss also told her to seek employment.
This article first appeared in the October 26, 2017 edition of the Vermont Standard.