Tag Archives: theft

Tiny Mice Gang Up on Big HOA Rats

Homeowners usually get the raw end of the deal when they try to fight the “Bigs” in the HOA industry. Some Homeowners in California are trying to turn that trend around. An HOA in Riverside County has sued three former property managers for “fraud, conspiracy to defraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty. They had employed the management companies for eight years.
 
Canyon Lake Association then sued its own law firm, Fiore, Racobs & Powers, accusing them of “fraud and malpractice.” They say a lengthy investigation found “no cash management, no separation of accounting duties, credit card abuse by employees, employee salary increases that were not approved by the board.”
 
The lawsuit further claims that three HOA managers “created and concealed a secret, systemic pattern of conversion and theft of (HOA) assets and funds…and made representations to the board that were not true and were a cover-up designed..to delay discovery of the cover-up.”

Another HOA Embezzler Gets Spanked

The Wyoming Supreme Court hammered a Gillette woman, who’ll probably be spending the rest of her life in prison.
 
60 year old Julie Ann Jacobsen embezzled more than $400,000 from her Homeowners Association.  She was entrusted with the HOA’s books. She used a variety of sneaky ways to funnel all that money from her neighbors into her personal bank account. When the verdict was announced, though, Jacobsen wasn’t there to hear it.  She was on the lam. She fled to Washington State and evadedlaw enforcement for about a year.
 
But most thieves are stupid, and Julie Ann Jacobsen was doubly so. Even if you have $400,000 in stolen money, sooner or later you’re going to make a mistake and pop up on some database or another.  She did. And she was busted. She was hauled back to Wyoming to face the music.
 
She appealed her 36 to 60 year prison sentence to the Wyoming State Supreme Court. She asked the court to overturn the sentence.
 
The Supreme Court said….
 
“No.”