CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. — The former manager of a bed and breakfast family business in Savannah has been sentenced to several years in prison for embezzlement, according to the Department of Justice.
Chiquita Blake has been sentenced to 51 months in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud, the DOJ said. Blake was also ordered to pay $508,114.37 in restitution, to serve three years of supervised released and perform 40 hours of community service.
“Chiquita Blake was a trusted employee of a family owned business, and stole from her employer to fuel a lifestyle far beyond her means,” U.S. Attorney David H. Estes said in a press release. “She’s now being held accountable for her unbridled greed.”
Blake was employed as the manager of a bed and breakfast in Savannah’s Historic District from 2005 to 2020. From May 2015 through Dec. 2020, Blake manipulated the inn's reservation system to transfer business funds into her own accounts, prosecutors said. She then used those funds to make payments on her nearly three dozen credit accounts, the DOJ said.
An investigation by the U.S. Secret Service determined that Blake had illegally transferred a total of $508,114.37 from the hotel.
“The U.S. Secret Service is committed to investigating complex fraud schemes in Savannah,” Craig Reno, Resident Agent in Charge of the Savannah Resident Office of the U.S. Secret Service, said in a press release. “This was a particularly insidious scheme because the defendant exploited a position of trust within the company. The Secret Service and our law enforcement partners will investigate and criminally prosecute such fraud to the fullest extent of the law.”
