Orlando-area state Senate candidate charged with $48K theft from HOA

A candidate for a Lake County-based state Senate seat is charged with stealing $47,722 from a homeowners association whose finances she managed and is facing trial in September.

Cheryl Blancett, who goes by CJ, has been charged with grand theft of $20,000 or more, a second-degree felony. The charges were first reported by VoxPopuli, a website that covers West Orange County news.

The alleged offenses took place in 2018 and 2019, while Blancett was in charge of managing finances for Sawgrass Estates in east Orange County.

Blancett, 63, said Friday in a text that her attorneys had advised her not to discuss the case.

“The bogus case against me was filed maliciously and lacking probable cause,” she wrote. “I feel the filing was politically motivated.”

She pleaded not guilty to the charges and told the Orange County Sheriff’s Office deputies that she didn’t spend homeowners association funds for personal use.

But deputies determined Blancett mixed homeowners association funds with her personal LLC account, according to a document outlining the charges, and concluded she used the intermingled business account for personal purchases and items other than approved homeowners association expenses.

“Ms. Blancett knowingly withheld records, intermingled funds, and used cash to conceal the theft and permanently deprive the Sawgrass Estates HOA of $47,722.34,” deputy Jacob Devine wrote in his report.

Blancett’s campaign website describes her as a small business owner and retired investigator as well as a “motivator of souls, lover of life, seeker of truth and gladiator for the U.S. Constitution.”

A political newcomer from Leesburg, Blancett faces long odds in her pursuit of the Republican nomination to represent the state Senate seat, as she is vying against two candidates with super-sized war chests. Her GOP rivals are current state Rep. Keith Truenow and Bowen Kou, a wealthy businessman who owns a chain of grocery stores and restaurants. Each has raised more than $1 million in cash and in-kind contributions to their individual campaign accounts and political committees, while Blancett has brought in less than $8,000, campaign finance records show.

The winner of the August primary will face off against Democrat Stephanie Dukes in November.

The general election victor will represent a district that includes all of Lake County and the southwest corner of Orange County, succeeding longtime state Sen. Dennis Baxley, who is term-limited. He endorsed Truenow in April 2023.

Truenow also has the support of the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee and several state GOP leaders, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis.

The district heavily favors the GOP, with Republicans comprising 44% of registered voters, according to the most recent data available from the Florida Department of State. Democrats account for just less than 27% of voters.

Blancett was hit with the felony charge in April 2023, just weeks after she filed to run for the open Florida Senate District. The sheriff’s office first started investigating the matter in 2019, after the homeowners association’s president alerted deputies to missing money from the organization’s account, but determined it did not have enough evidence and closed the case in late 2021. Deputies re-opened the case a few months later after the manager who took over the homeowners association account in 2019 brought forth new information.

If convicted, Blancett faces up to 15 years in prison, according to Florida statutes.

anmartin@orlandosentinel.com