Forrest Lake (politician)

Forrest Lake was a prominent politician, banker, real estate investor, a mayor of Sanford, Florida and a member of the Florida House of Representatives. Lake had an instrumental role in the formation of Seminole County. In 1928, Lake was convicted of embezzlement and served 3 years of a 14-year sentence.

Early life

Lake was born in Newberry South Carolina on July 15, 1868.^[1] After spending some time in Cuba, he moved to Sanford, Florida in 1886.^[2] Seven years later, he became mayor of Sanford.^[3] He married Mary Maude Anno in Orlando in 1895.

Lake influenced the Florida state legislature to pass a bill creating Seminole County by splitting off a portion of Orange County in 1913, furthering his political career.^[3] He served in the Florida House of Representatives as the Orange County representative in 1911 and 1913, and as the Seminole County representative in 1915 and 1923.^[4]

Sanford Charter Bill

In 1911, the community of Sanford Heights seceded from Sanford, because of discord over municipal services provided by Sanford. This added to concerns that Sanford's ability to expand would be constrained by the surrounding towns of Goldsboro, Georgetown and Sanford Heights, as well as Lake Monroe to the north. Lake led legislative efforts to curtail Sanford Heights ability to incorporate, independent of Sanford. Goldsboro was also a target in Lake's annexation process.^[5] On April 6, 1911, the Sanford city council passed a resolution to annex Goldsboro and on April 26, 1911 the Florida legislature passed the Sanford Charter Bill, dissolving the incorporation of both Sanford and Goldsboro, and reorganizing Sanford as a city that included Goldsboro within its boundaries.^[6][7]

Embezzlement

In 1913, Lake was elected president of the Seminole County Bank, by the bank's board of directors. His real estate investments faltered during the declining years of the real estate boom period of the 1920s. In 1925, he built the 158-room Hotel Forrest Lake (later named the Mayfair Inn) on the shore of Lake Monroe. The posh hotel, built at a cost of one half million dollars resulted in a five million dollar loss for him and his co-investors. Over the next few years, Lake experience similar financial losses. The bank finally closed on August 6, 1927,^[8] and the following year, Lake and the bank's vice president A. R. Key, were indicted by a grand jury on charges of embezzling $553,000 from the bank.^[9]

Key plead guilty to two charges, and testified against Lake for the prosecution. After a series of five jury trials, Lake was convicted of four bank fraud charges on May 4, 1928 and sentenced to a 14 years prison term by Judge Dewitt Gray.^[8][9] He served 16 months of his sentence at Raiford prison before being released on a bond to pursue an appeal. In 1933, he lost the appeal before the state pardon board and was sent back to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence.^[10][11][12]

Later life

After serving out his prison sentence, Lake returned to Sanford where he lived for the remainder of his life. Following a two-week-long illness, Lake died on January 24, 1939. He was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Sanford, next to his wife.

References