Durham Social Services employee charged with stealing $18K from retirement accounts

A Durham County Social Services employee was charged Friday with posing as other people and stealing from their 401(k) accounts.

According to the Durham County Sheriff's Office, Tiffany Diane Blake, 40, of Durham, is accused of posing as nine different employees, one who had died, on 16 different occasions between August 2019 and January 2023.

In that timeframe, Blake is accused of contacting Empower, the company that administers Durham County's employee retirement benefits, and submitted a hardship withdrawal request, transferring over $18,000 from others' accounts to her personal accounts.

An investigation launched in March after the fraudulent withdrawals were flagged by a vendor conducting an investigation.

Blake was taken into custody Friday and charged identity theft, accessing computers, forgery of instrument and obtaining property under false pretense.

She was jailed on a $20,000 secured bond but later bonded out.