Susan Blaue, Embezzlement, VT 2013-2015

Susan Blaue, 39, of Bridgewaters Corners, looted over $130,000 from ABLE Waste Management and two affiliated companies over a two-year stretch, forging checks and hijacking company credit cards to fund her personal life. The thefts, which spanned from April 2013 to January 2015, gutted the small Plymouth-based business while Blaue posed as a trusted bookkeeper.

On March 29, 2017, a federal grand jury in Rutland hit Blaue with a three-count indictment: forgery, mail fraud, and credit card fraud. Though she lacked check-signing authority, Blaue exploited access to the owner’s signature stamp—slapping it onto unauthorized checks made out to herself, then depositing the cash directly into her personal accounts.

Blaue didn’t stop at forged checks. She used company funds to cover her personal bills, charged personal purchases on ABLE credit cards, and even siphoned money to pay rent on a company-owned house where she lived rent-free. The scheme unraveled after internal discrepancies triggered an investigation, exposing a trail of financial deception.

Last fall, Blaue pleaded guilty to the federal forgery charge, the cornerstone of her broader theft operation. Today, U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III handed down her sentence in Burlington federal court: two years of probation, three months of home confinement, 100 hours of community service, and full restitution of $94,736.20.

The case was jointly investigated by the United States Secret Service and the Windsor County Sheriff’s Office, a rare collaboration that underscores the seriousness of financial crimes in tight-knit rural communities. Federal prosecutors treated the breach of trust as a high-priority violation, not just a paper crime.

Blaue is represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender Elizabeth Quinn. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples prosecuted. The remaining counts of mail fraud and credit card fraud were dropped as part of the plea agreement, but the damage—and the debt—remain firmly on the books.