Tag Archives: HOA Hell

Another Crook Bites The Dust!

1 Comment

Somebody’s gotta write a song with that title.

Yes, indeedy, a crook who’s been stealing money from Northern California Homeowners Associations has been caught with his fingers in the graham cracker jar. Chris Barna, of Manteca, California, figured no one would be the wiser if he swiped a million or so bucks from his employer, a company that manages many HOAs in that state.

Barna saved everyone the time and money it would have taken to prosecute him. He pleaded guilty in Federal Court and agreed to pay full restitution. But that’s a laugh. If he gets the 30 year federal prison sentence, which is the maximum statutory penalty for stealing a million bucks, it’ll be a cold day in Hell before he squares up with the folks he ripped off.

Thirty years in federal prison is way too good for creeps like this one.

http://tinyurl.com/kxxxwnl

original source:

http://www.justice.gov/usao/cae/news/docs/2012/11-2012/11-28-12Barna.html

Another Day, Another HOA Dollar

No Comments

No, actually it was about 283 HOA dollars a day. But the treasurer of the Stratford Homeowners Association in a well-to-do suburb of Augusta, Georgia, is facing theft charges.

Laurie Wainwright-Vanover now stands accused of stealing more than a quarter million bucks from her Homeowners Association over a four year period. She was treasurer of her association and had access to the dues paid by all her neighbors.

Of course, she’s not guilty until proven so in a court of law. Unless she pleads guilty, innocent by reason of insanity or….better yet? How about this for a defense: Since we’re living in an era of redistribution of wealth, all she was doing was trying to help carry out national policy. Who knows? People who embezzle from their neighbors sometimes come up with some goofy excuses for doing so.

http://tinyurl.com/a7o84qg

original source:

http://www.wjbf.com/story/22182589/treasurer-arrested-accused-of-stealing-hoa-money

THEY GOT HIM!!!

No Comments

Nevada has some slimy creatures. But this one has finally been nailed by the U.S. Attorney. Las Vegas huckster Leon Benzer has at long last been indicted for leading the organized crime ring that bled untold tens of millions of dollars out of that state’s Homeowners Associations.

Benzer has claimed innocence all along. In fact, he’s now saying that he got personal approval for running his racket by the Nevada Attorney General. While that’s totally believable, the HOA scam was totally unbelievable. More than two dozen participants have already pleaded guilty to rigging HOA board elections so they could put phony straw men on the boards and divert millions of dollars to Benzer, a bunch of lawyers, a few police officials and a politician here and there.

Oh, and this is the case where forty percent of the first ten suspects accused ‘committed suicide,’ at least one of them in impossible circumstances. But that’s the Vegas way.

The real tragedy here is that the FBI may be winding down its investigation. But with all they’ve learned during this four year investigation, they could transplant this team of federal agents to any city in the country and they’d find just as much corruption. HOA scams are going on all over.

And on that, you can depend.

http://tinyurl.com/nzg473p

original source:

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/crime-courts/key-figure-indicted-las-vegas-hoa-scheme-claimed-attorney-general-masto-approved

What? A Dishonest HOA? Nawww!

No Comments

The story linked below is more than confusing. But I’ll try to boil it down.

A dishonest developer (imagine that!) creates a planned community with all its customary HOA rules, doesn’t provide the promised amenities, goes bankrupt the day before going to court; now the community is stuck with HOA regulations and dues created by this creepy developer.

Welcome to HOA Amerika.

Kenneth and Linda Anderson developed the Arcadian Springs Village Property Owners Association in Andersonville, Kentucky. Now dozens of homeowners are whining that they got duped. They didn’t get the Utopian neighborhood they dreamed of.

Yup. You got duped from the second you heard the phrase “Homeowners Association.” You should have run away from the Realtor. You should have demanded that the Realtor only show you homes OUTSIDE of Homeowners Associations. Now you’re stuck with covenants, controls and restrictions, created by a dishonest developer, that will be there forever. And you’ll be paying dues forever on amenities that will never exist.

That’s the way it works, folks. Utopia was a fictional paradise in the mind of Sir Thomas More in his 1516 book about a magical paradise on a gorgeous island in the middle of the ocean. His dream of the ultimate future society was just that. A dream. You can’t have a Utopian society unless every member of the community is brain-dead.

Then again, to buy into a Homeowners Association with all the negative stories out there… you’ve gotta be brain-dead.

I’m just sayin’.

http://tinyurl.com/cw9tsqn

original source:

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/may/10/lawsuit-filed-over-association-fees/

On Hiring the Cops to be Cops

No Comments

Houston’s Oak Forest Homeowners Association is discussing hiring off-duty sheriff’s deputies to patrol their neighborhood.

There’s an obvious and historic conflict-of-interest in hiring off-duty cops to perform the exact same duties in the exact same neighborhoods that they patrol during on-duty hours. And over the years there’ve been plenty of scandals involving off-duty police work.

Additionally, hiring police officers will not give the Oak Forest HOA immunity from any lawsuits in lawsuit-happy Texas. In fact, it may even be even more tempting for the litigious to sue for excessive force or other alleged ‘bad cop’ behavior. They get to sue the cop, AND the police department, AND city/county government, AND the HOA. Each entity has insurance to ‘buy off’ the lawsuit. Nice!

That being said, it would sure be comforting to know that someone providing neighborhood security was a real professional and not a private HOA security guard who suddenly finds himself being given police powers. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled recently that private HOA guards have the power to ‘arrest’ motorists. In other parts of the country, private security guards pull over speeding motorists and order them to write a check to the local HOA. How absolutely scary! In one Colorado HOA, security guards even use a police radar gun to ‘arrest’ and ‘fine’ speeders.

Given a choice, I’d sure be tempted to hire the professionals.

http://www.theleadernews.com/?p=9124

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)