Paula Deen's Housekeeper Jailed for Stealing from Food Network Host

Paula Deen's former housekeeper, Mary White (aka Mary Singleton, aka Mary Keter), was sentenced to 18 months in prison and a further six months of probation for stealing jewelry from the Food Network star and her husband, Michael Groover. White worked for Deen from August 2009 to May of this year as a personal housekeeper at her Wilmington Island home- also the setting for Deen's Food Network shows. Wilmington Island is 10 miles east of downtown Savannah, Georgia.

According to police, White stole over $100,000 of men's and women's jewelry and pawned them at several local pawn shops in Savannah and Garden City. Groover and Deen called police to their home on Turner Creek when they realized that a substantial amount of jewelry was missing. Prior to that, the couple had caught White with several pieces of jewelry and fired her. White was successful in several transactions but was reported on May 5, 2010, by a local pawn shop owner when she tried to pawn an $18,000 pair of earrings. She was arrested on theft-by-taking charges but released. She was again arrested May 13 at a Garden City pawn shop when she attempted to hawk a $2,500 bracelet and a $7,000 Rolex watch.

Deen's husband, Michael Groover, originally a tugboat captain on the Savannah River, made a statement to the judge in the case, saying that White was "like family."

"Nobody but Mary knows everything she stole from us," he said.

White faced a maximum of 30 years in prison for the thefts but the prosecution only sought 10 years, with two being served and the rest on probation. This was not White's first run-in with the law. She was sentenced in December 1993 in Effingham County, near Savannah, with theft-by-taking. It is not known whether Deen knew this when she hired White as her personal housekeeper.

Paula Deen is the host of "Paula's Party" and "Paula's Best Dishes," as well as several specials on the Food Network. She is the owner of the Lady and Sons restaurant in downtown Savannah, and has financial interests in several other namesake ventures. Her sons, Jamie and Bobby Deen, also have a presence on Food Network and work with their mother in her ventures.