Press Release

Concord, NH - Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald and Department of Employment Security Commissioner George Copadis announce that Samuel Blake, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on September 23, 2019, in Rockingham County Superior Court, on one count of unemployment compensation fraud, a class A felony.

Between April 4, 2015 and July 26, 2015, Mr. Blake knowingly failed to disclose his employment and earnings to the Department of Employment Security in order to obtain or increase his unemployment compensation benefits, in that on 17 occasions he submitted a weekly continued claim form and answered “No” to the question: “Did you work or perform any services, including self-employment last week? Regardless of whether or not you have been paid for the work or services.” As a result, Mr. Blake fraudulently received $2,329.00 in unemployment benefits.

Mr. Blake was sentenced to 12 months in the House of Corrections, with all but 17 days suspended for 6 months, conditioned on good behavior, the payment of restitution and penalty totaling $2,794.80, and the use of his likeness in the Department of Employment Security Benefits and Rights Interview, which discusses the ramifications of committing unemployment fraud. He is disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation benefits for 52 weeks.

The Department of Employment Security provides unemployment compensation benefits to eligible claimants who are unemployed through no fault of their own. The Department investigates and prosecutes both criminal and civil unemployment compensation fraud with the goal of protecting New Hampshire’s unemployment compensation trust fund.