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.
It’s always a sad day when a person in a position of trust violates the confidence he or she is given. It’s even sadder when the victims are elderly homeowners who’ve worked all their lives to save their money for retirement.
Homeowners Association boards and Property Management Companies, though, probably have more embezzlers than any other industry in America.
The latest arrest of a suspected embezzler happened in early July in St. Augustine, Florida. This blogger will enthusiastically post her name: she is 57 year old June Elizabeth Supko. She’s accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the Captain’s Quarters Condominium Association.
The president of the Association suspected something was wrong, and asked Supko to turn over HOA computer passwords so the accounts could be audited. She says Supko refused and was fired. A forensic audit discovered the illegal withdrawals. Supko is now facing felony fraud charges.
