Thursday, August 15, 2013

Ex-Hollymead treasurer charged with embezzlement - The Daily Progress: Local

Ex-Hollymead treasurer charged with embezzlement - The Daily Progress: Local

Another isolated incident!  But this one has an additional angle: a claim that the BOD asked the home owners to keep it quiet.

"A former Hollymead homeowners association treasurer has been charged with embezzlement, court records show. Patricia Anne Cuthbert, 43, stands accused of embezzling more than $73,000 from the Hollymead Citizens Association, the neighborhood’s homeowners association, between January 2008 and December 2012...The board of directors of the Hollymead Citizens Association informed residents last month that a slew of unauthorized charges had been made to the association’s bank account, but told homeowners to keep word of the audit quiet while police investigated the charges and the board continued to seek reimbursement. “They asked us to not make the audit public and to not even talk about it at cocktail parties because it could lower our property values,” Moruza said. Moruza is a member of Concerned Citizens of Hollymead, which is demanding changes to the homeowners association’s board of directors and greater transparency between board members and residents."

1 comment:

IC_deLight said...

Ha ha ha. "Preserves property values". Ha ha ha ha. This may be one of the few published stories that has relayed the desires of board members (advised by "professional" management companies and HOA attorneys of course) to not disclose embezzlement. This command to keep quiet under the pretext of "preserving property values" is UBIQUITOUS. Moreover, the trade groups whose members are often responsible for embezzlement and predatory practices on the HOA and its involuntary members also impose barriers to records access and can be found lobbying against open meetings and open records in every legislature where the issue comes up. Is this trade group trying to "preserve property value" or to facilitate unabated embezzlement?