Employees charged with stealing from homeowners We
have property management and directors stealing from the homeowners and
we also have bookkeepers and employees treating their employer as a
honey pot.
Woman suspected of defrauding HOA Ocala Star Banner
By Austin L. Miller Staff writer
28 April 2016
Debby Lee
Underwood
A former bookkeeper is accused of defrauding the Kingsland Ocala
Waterway Homeowners Association out of more than $11,000 over four
years.
Debby Lee Underwood, 44, of Ocala, was arrested Wednesday on a fraud
charge, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office. She was booked
into the jail at 5:13 p.m. and released at 12:35 a.m. Thursday on a
$2,000 bond.
She could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
In late January, a sheriff's deputy went to 7500 SW 61st Ave. after
receiving a call about a fraud. He talked with the office manager for
Kingsland Ocala Waterway Homeowners Association. The woman said she had
been reviewing bank deposits from 2014 and discovered that deposits
made by Underwood were in inaccurate. The woman said she was still
reviewing the documents and would call again when she was finished.
Detective Craig Evans got the call last month, according to his report.
The office manager had documents that she believed showed Underwood
defrauding the association.
As a bookkeeper, Underwood was responsible for collecting dues. Some
homeowners would pay in cash, the office manager said, and Underwood
would write a deposit and place the funds in petty cash, which was not
authorized.
Underwood's
deposits were never audited
The problem went unnoticed, the woman said, because Underwood's
deposits were never audited. Underwood wrote the deposit slips, and
when the reports were reviewed the money appeared to be there, the
officer said. No one checked the actual deposits.
The woman said Underwood would write fraudulent deposits slips showing
money was transferred from petty cash to the bank account. However, she
said, bank records did not show the money being deposited into the bank.
The woman told Evans Underwood would receive the mail and was
responsible for depositing checks from title companies. Underwood, she
said, would write the deposit slip for the checks but would not write
the correct amount on the slip.
For example, on Feb. 17, 2011, Underwood deposited several checks into
the bank, according to the detective's report. One of the deposit slips
showed a check for $344.41, though it was actually for $494.41, a
difference of $150. Another check was listed as $401.79 but was
actually for $501.79, a $100 difference.
The office manager told Evans the deposits are kept on a program called
QuickBooks and, if anyone had later made changes, that would show up on
the deposit records.
Underwood stole $11,474.46
After reviewing all the homeowners association files and the checks
that Underwood filed, the office manager concluded the fraud was
committed from Aug. 17, 2010, through Sept. 10, 2014, and that
Underwood stole $11,474.46 from the Homeowners association, according
Evans' report.
The detective collected the documentation. On Wednesday, Underwood went
to the Southwest District Office, but told Evans she has an attorney
and declined to talk.
Hammocks Community Association (HCA) employee Angie Rose Lantigua and
former employee Leslie Navarro have both been charged after an
investigation revealed that they had diverted $148,050.17 of HCA funds
into accounts that they personally controlled. Angie Rose Lantigua was
employed by HCA as the Accounts Receivable clerk between 2010 and late
2015. Leslie Navarro was employed as the Accounts Payable Clerk by HCA
between 2008 and late 2015.
By creating a bank account utilizing the name “Hammocks Community
Association Properties, LLC”, Leslie Navarro was able to redirect HCA
funds ($148,050.17) to an account over which she had sole control. The
investigation of this bank account revealed that $54, 500 was later
wire-transferred to Ms. Lantigua’s personal bank account.
Leslie Navarro has been charged with:
1 count Organized Scheme to Defraud 1st Degree Felony 1
count Grand
Theft
1st Degree Felony
Angie Rose Lantigua has been charged with:
1 count Organized Scheme to Defraud 1st Degree Felony
1 count Grand
Theft
2nd Degree Felony
“Sadly, these two trusted employees of the Hammocks Community
Association have allegedly used that trust as a tool to enrich
themselves,” stated Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez
Rundle. “Homeowners who followed all the rules and paid their community
fees should not be victimized.
The Miami Dade Police Department and my prosecutors are committed to
investigating and convicting those individuals who would use Homeowners
Association and Condominium Association funds as their own personal
wallets.”
top
HOA worker illegally spent $94,000 on hotels, ring, purses, more
Palm Beach Post
By Tony Doris
04 January 2016
Kristine K. Moore
The bookkeeper for a suburban West Palm Beach homeowners association
has been arrested for allegedly using nearly $95,000 of the
association’s money for personal expenses from a $2,138 diamond ring to
an $804 purse.
Kristine K. Moore, 36, of West Palm Beach, was charged Dec. 29 with
larceny and fraud in the disappearance of $94,674 from the master
homeowners association of Cypress Lakes, a 1,000-home, 55-plus
community off Haverhill Road, just north of Century Village. She was
released on $20,000 bond the next day.
reviewed the association’s credit card bills, missing cash
According to a police affidavit, in April 2014, the association’s
property manager reviewed the association’s credit card bills and
called police after discovering about $10,700 in charges for personal
purchases between November 2013 and March 2014. A further review
indicated much larger losses, not just from association credit cards
but in missing cash deposits that homeowners had made.
The dozens of credit card purchases included nearly $3,000 spent at
electronics store Best Buy, $8,000 at Walmart and Walmart.com, and
thousands more from such places as Springhill Suites, Supercuts, Sprint
Wireless, Publix, K Star Diamond & Jewelry and Victoria’s Secret.
There was perfume, an engagement ring, air freshener, hotel bills from
Hampton Inn and Best Western, a cell phone and 46 cell phone cases and
Louis Vuitton purse.
Merrill Gottlieb, president of the homeowners association, said
Wednesday that Moore worked in the community for nearly six years. She
was earning about $44,000 a year, the police report said.
using its money for personal expenditures since 2011
A preliminary accounting review by the association indicated Moore had
been using its money for personal expenditures since 2011 and doctored
the books to make it appear all was well, the report said. On March 26,
2014, while the property manager was in the office within earshot of
her, discussing with an accountant the discovery of serious
discrepancies in association bank records, Moore picked up her
belongings and left, never to return, the report said.
Gottlieb said he could not speak about the case. “We’ve cooperated with
law enforcement on this and law enforcement has been helpful to us,” he
said.
Where the money went
Some of the retailers where Moore allegedly spent money:
Walmart: $5,913.77
Best Buy: $2,947.84
Google: $3,134.08
Marshalls: $2,530.31
Amazon Marketplace: $2,526.97
Sprint Wireless: $2,316.51
Walmart.com: $2,125.83
Kohl’s: $1,797.67
Priceline Hotels: $1,750.42
Facebook.com: $1,637.00
Amazon.com: $1,551.27
Verizon: $1,434.79
Publix: $1,378.48
CVS Pharmacy: $1,302.40
Springhill Suites, Boca Raton: $1,138.86
Apple itunes: $1,099.63
