A Forty Two Thousand Dollar Question... may go unanswered...

UPDATE: Sgt. John Filas of the Avondale Police contacted me this morning concerning closure of DR#1262767. He indicated based on the evidence provided that since no money went missing, then no illegal activity occurred. He suggested that the evidence does support a breach of fiduciary responsibility by the board for which there are several civil remedies (ie: voting out board members, a civil case to remove the board members, or replacement of the management company).

He also acknowledged that four of the mis-appropriations do appear to be interest free loans or advanced payments and that the board likely approved of the activity noted in the summaries of the monthly financials in question. He pointed out that a rather humorous explanation for the $18K loan in June of 2011 was due to a "billing error" per the monthly financial summary because it's kinda easy to accidentally make a check for $24,300 vs. $6000!

June 2011: Total general and administrative costs were over budget by $32,092.02. Expenses for in-house collection were over budget. Management fees were overpaid in error. There will be no management fees paid until November 2011.

Yeah... been there done that...

ORIGINAL POST: On October 20, 2011, I asked the board, management company, and our associations lawyer why our Management Company made $42K in unauthorized payments to itself from our account at various times throughout 2010 and 2011. The question has gone unanswered to this date. Because I received no answers, I reported the findings to the Avondale Police Department in order to determine whether the transactions accounted for embezzlement of Non-Profit funds. As of this date, Detective Heatherington of the Avondale Police Department has closed the case. No reasoning has been provided, and the board has been given a pass to remain silent. Thankfully the illicit activity appears to have stopped as of June 2011 after our Management Company made an unauthorized $18K payment to itself.

If you are concerned that our board and our Management Company may have engaged in unauthorized lending of our Associations funds, and that they may never be held to account for these transactions, then I implore you to please make a call to the following individuals and lobby for the re-opening of DR#1262767. Also, please contact our Management Company, the board, and the associations lawyer to demand answers and accountability.

EVIDENCE
EVIDENCE SUMMARY: here
DETAILED FINANCIALS: 2010, 2011 (see page 8 on each)

POLICE INFO
AVONDALE NON-EMERGENCY POLICE: 623-333-7001
CASE DR#1262767
DETECTIVE ASSIGNED TO CASE: Heatherington (sheatherington@avondale.org)
SUPERVISOR OF DETECTIVE HEATHERINGTON: Sgt. John Filas

THOSE WITH THE ANSWERS - Send email to all of them here!
PRESIDENT: Steve Wadding
DIRECTOR AT LARGE: Pedro Lopez
OUR MANAGEMENT COMPANY: the owner
ASSOCIATION LAWYER: Chandler Travis

The article, "Preventing Fraud: From Fiduciary Duty to Practical Strategies" is a must read for our board members and the members of our community. It is inexcusable that our board continues to entertain negotiation of a new contract with our Management Company while remaining "pin-drop" silent on possible embezzlement. On Dec 10 this will become the $42K elephant at the center of our Homeowners meet - I'm certain our board and the associations lawyer will ignore it.