Bookkeeper pleads guilty to $230,000 theft

Susan Spencer-Wendel
Friday, July 23, 2004



WEST PALM BEACH -- The bookkeeper was such a nice young man -- clean-cut, polite, all yes-sir-yes-ma'am, so likable -- the retirees invited him to Easter dinner.

Meanwhile, Todd Demartine, 32, was raiding their homeowner association accounts, withdrawing thousands of dollars, buying things such as a WaveRunner and a Tiffany diamond ring.

Thursday, Demartine pleaded guilty to stealing more than $230,000 from his employer, Hawk-Eye Management, and accounts it handled. He worked almost two years for the Boca Raton company, which employs 15 and handles finances for condo homeowner associations in southern Palm Beach County.
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Think of the possibilities. Here are the HOAs, run by volunteers who may or may not have any accounting or business background. Here's their money. Here sits the enterprising and perhaps dishonest bookkeeper or property manager. Who will notice if he or she takes a little off the top? There have been many reports of this sort of thing.