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More on Crooked HOA Nevada

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guest blog by Bob Frank

The massive corruption involved with major over-charging of assessments and accumulating hidden slush funds from surplus assessments is still going on in Sun City Anthem, Henderson, NV with no end in sight.  Neither the state nor the city leaders are willing to act to stop it.  The facts are plainly documented–even this year with yet another board member who got it, and was ignored.

The total waste and abuse in this association alone is over $10 Million by now and growing every year.  There has been no accounting for such fraud.   Annual budgets cover up the issues, and assessments are never reduced by the prior year’s surpluses.   After a decade of such openly illegal abuses, not a single dollar of over $10 Mil. of surplus assessments has ever been “returned/refunded” to the overcharged 7,144 unit owners.  Those thousands of dollars denied to be refunded or credited to members amounts to grand theft–accordingly to criminal law.

But, the Administrative Laws of Nevada give the Executive Branch no authority to punish financially corrupt board members (and that is how the legislative and executive branches want it to be)–except to remove them from a board–which almost never happens.  While board members can theoretically be fined $1,000 by the executive branch, it almost never happens (3 times in 10 years from 3,000 HOAs where there were over 1,000 unit owner complaints about law violations and gross board mismanagement) and when it does, the association is allowed to pay the fine and stiff the members for the second time!

Finally, after what happened to me with being falsely arrested, perp-walked, jailed for 4 hours, entered into the global criminal database, and finger-printed for daring to ask that such flagrant theft by the board be investigated and punished, others are understandably too afraid to file similar complaints with “law enforcement” in Nevada.  So, there is never meaningful punishment for stealing from HOA unit owners–even if it causes the association to go bankrupt.

In case anyone is interested, I have some first person experiences with “tolerated corruption” relating to my 3 years on the NV HOA Commission.   It is a fact that Administrative Law is knowingly and willingly unconstitutional by our federal and state legislators.  The combination of ignorance and greed (dependence on development, HOA management, and real estate industry campaign donations) is totally out-of-control.  It is hard to see through the fog of corruption to envision any progress in the future.  The abusive system seems perfectly protected from all angles.

 

The HOA Tree Huggers

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Michael Crick of Bridal Trails HOA in Bellevue, Washington loves trees but not ones that are diseased or at risk for falling on his home and possibly killing his family. So, he obtained the proper permits and the city arborist determined the trees he marked for removal were correctly selected.

The cutting began and suddenly a dozen neighbors arrived, including the HOA president, Ray Reass. The number one tree hugger offered Mr. Crick the standard advice given in all HOAs. MOVE! That’s right, if you do not want to take the chance of a dead tree falling on your house and family just MOVE!!! And then she so politely says, “Good Day.”

I can relate to Crick and his tree issue. Next to my garage, on HOA common ground were two very old and very tall trees that started turning brown and dropping needles like rain drops. The HOA removed one tree, but I think it was done more for the purpose of the neighbors who video tape my every move. With that tree out of the way they had a much better shot of my bedroom window and driveway.

My requests to have the other tree removed fell on deaf ears and were ignored. I called an arborist who said it was diseased and a wind storm could blow it down. Being in the the direct line of west winds blowing,  my garage, kitchen, and living room would be destroyed should that tree have fallen. I would have lost two vehicles, my entire kitchen, and everything in my living room. I decided to check with my insurance company about my coverage. I was instructed to write a letter to the property manager letting him know since he was being paid to manage the HOA and had been made aware of the dead tree if it fell on my house my insurance company would pay for the damage, minus my deductible, and then sue him for payment.

Shortly after writing the email to the property manager, I left town for three days. Guess what was gone when I arrived home?

(link to KOMO story about dead trees)

 

Madonna’s HOA problems

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Madonna may decide her uppity New York co-op neighbors aren’t worth the rent. She’s suing because the co-op board doesn’t want Madonna’s kids or domestic help staying there when she isn’t physically in the building.

In the story linked below, I don’t read that she’s suing for racial discrimination, but I’d bet my last dollar that’s going to be a central point of her lawsuit. Some white folks just don’t like it when people of color are around. That’s how the whole HOA movement got started in the first place. Don’t believe me? Go look in the title history of your property deed!

Gosh, when is racism ever going to go away? Isn’t it time, folks?

(link to story on Madonna suing her co-op)

 

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/music/celebrity/madonna-sues-nyc-apartment-for-allegedly-barring-her-kids-or-staff-from-staying-there-while-shes-away-report/ar-BBrihNu?li=BBnb7Kz

Madonna‘s claims her Upper West Side co-op in New York City has barred her children and staff from living in the residence while she is not there, according to a lawsuit obtained by Page Six.

The pop star – who has been traveling the world on her Rebel Heart tour – alleges that Harperley Hall “illegally changed her original proprietary lease in April 2014 to say that her children and domestic help cannot live in the unit unless she herself is ‘in residence’ at the time,” according to Page Six.

Her lease at Harperley Hall prevents anyone younger than 16 from living in her apartment without an adult older than 21 also present, according to Page Six.

In her suit, Madonna, 57, said that her career requires her to travel extensively, and that she owns several residences around the world, thus creating an impossible situation, according to Page Six.

Madonna’s four children are all under the age of 21, and only one, Lourdes, 19, is older than 16.

Meanwhile, the singer is currently in the middle of a months-long custody dispute with ex-husband Guy Ritchie over their 15-year-old son, Rocco.

 

HOA Is Easier Target

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Here’s a an auditor from Pima County, Arizona who apparently opted to steal from the HOA rather than the taxpayers. Joshua Bonillas was the HOA bookkeeper for Presidio Villas 2. His day job as county auditor paid him $60,000 per year. He admits to stealing $45,000 from his neighbors via the HOA bank account by forging the treasurer’s signature on the checks.

I have a few questions for him. He’s claiming he stole the money because of his ill children. Did he not have health insurance for him and his family through his county job? If so, how did he end up needing $45,000 to pay medical bills? Why didn’t he put that money on a credit card? Or take a second mortgage on his house? Or set up a GoFundMe account? And why didn’t he steal from the taxpayers instead of his neighbors?

Here’s my opinion of why he chose the HOA for his piggy bank. I’m one who believes if a person will steal one thing they will steal anything. In this case, I don’t think he thought he’d ever get caught stealing from the HOA. As a county auditor, he knew if he stole from the county funds his risks for getting caught and going to jail were much greater. So, he opted to steal where his could play the “my kids were sick” card on his neighbors so as to pull their sympathetic heartstrings and appease them with an “I’m sorry” and walk away with a promise to repay the HOA. Repay when, Mr. Bonillas? In this lifetime or your next? We all know HOAs rarely recover anything when a thief steals the cash. It’s always chalked up to the “we should have known better” or “it was our fault” for not having two signatures required on the checks. In this case, he was not only stealing the money he was forging the signature. I just wonder if the $45,000 was the total he stole or if there’s more to the story?

Bottom line: Joshua Bonillas should be going to jail. April 11th he will be sentenced but his neighbors are already willing to forgive and forget what happened.

What about the homeowners who can’t afford their medical treatment because they are paying HOA dues? Or cannot afford the orthodontics for their children because they are paying dues for some thief to steal? Or the maintenance that was not done thus depreciating their property values? What about all of those real life situations? Will those be taken into consideration at the sentencing? I doubt it.

People make a conscious effort to forge signatures and steal money. No matter what their excuse for doing so, it doesn’t happen accidentally or unintentionally. Homeowners need to stop accepting these lame apologies and push for the highest level of punishment by law. Only when thieves know they will be given significant time behind bars will this HOA theft insanity stop!

Most of our readers recall my HOA has $10,000,000 unaccounted for. The guy who ran the HOA like it was his own business for twenty years dropped dead shortly after I hired an attorney. You should have heard the neighbors telling me how he was such a nice guy to have “volunteered” to be the president for all those years. And how he was so good at the job and just took care of every little thing. (Nobody noticed the houses were rotting to the ground and hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills were not paid in addition to the ten million dollars going missing.) Nobody cared that he had just purchased two places in Carlsbad, California and was running for the BOD of that HOA. Did I ever share with you that his successor had the American flag lowered to half-staff the day he died? Yes, she did. I’m convinced she thought as the new HOA president she had been given the power of authority that the Governor and President of the United States have! All that respect, concern, and sympathy for him. But let a homeowner not pay three months of dues, watch what happens then. No sympathy regardless of their reason for not paying. They will call out the CAI attorney, charge 18% interest, add on the legal fees, and go absolutely nuts to destroy that homeowner!

I do not understand the logic that seems to prevail in the minds of HOA homeowners. A simple apology from a thief seems to suffice. A few late payments from a homeowner sends them off the deep end. Could somebody please explain this to me? I just do not get it.

(link to conviction of HOA bookkeeper for stealing money from neighbors)