$ 1 MILLION EMBEZZLEMENT -- AND NOTHING HAPPENS!

CHARLOTTE SQUARE UPDATE – IT'S JUST A SHAME!

An Opinion By Jan Bergemann 
President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc. 

Published March 20, 2009

 

So far the proven loss caused by embezzlement has reached more than $1 million!

 

Sept  2008: The police report regarding the embezzlement was filed. The police department received hundreds of stolen checks, forged bank statements, etc. As of today, very little has been done. It took until March 2009 before the police even spoke with the ex-manager Stacy Herrin, aka Stacy Tuck, aka ….. (at least two other aliases).  The ex-manager was not detained, is free to go and enjoys the spoils of the embezzlement. Official police statement: "Investigation is still on-going."

 

March 2009: Annual Budget Meeting of the Ex-Board (Council as they prefer to be called), Star Management is still running the office, although back in November 2008 the Board received a petition of over 250 owners asking for removal of Star Management as management company. The Board ignored this request.

 

The Board admitted, after being questioned by unit owners, that they had not spoken to the police since November 2008. A unit owner, who had asked the police for information regarding the status of the case, was reminded by angry board members that the law firm of Becker & Poliakoff was hired by the board to deal with these issues. B&P is paid with unit owners’ money, but unit owners were told over and over again that "ONLY THE BOARD IS THE CLIENT, the lawyers DO NOT REPRESENT the owners!”

 

A lot of unit owners are very angry because no progress can be noted.  According to unit owners, the lawyers more or less issued a “GAG ORDER” – as the owners understood it. But owners feel that a lawyer can only "advise the client not to speak about a pending case." But since attorneys from B&P have repeatedly said that the owners are not their clients, owners feel not bound by the GAG ORDER.

 

The owners learned as well that there were no written minutes of the 2008 budget meeting, but that they were “reconstructed” at a later date. Since at that time some owners had already voiced suspicions about possible financial wrongdoings, owners demanded an outside audit. The board at that time refused to order an audit, but agreed that three people of their choosing should audit the books. This internal audit was never done.

 

This clearly shows that the board was aware of problems and the fact that the CAM was allegedly “cooking the books” as early as March 2008. But the board clearly failed to act.

 

Star Hospitality Management, Inc.: The management firm still refuses to answer any questions by unit owners, especially if they are bonded and insured against such losses. The firm hasn’t repaid one dime of the missing money and actually insists that they are not to blame for anything Stacey Herrin (the name she used on her CAM license) did, despite the fact that this CAM was an employee of Star Hospitality Management, Inc. and the associations had contract with the management firm, not the specific manager. The owners were supposed to be protected by an insurance bond ($50,000 for each of the nine single associations), but Stacy Herrin was in charge of these insurance policies. It is even alleged that Stacy Herrin padded the policy premium – and kept the excess for herself. Star Hospitality Management, Inc. is not only still in charge of the money of Charlotte Square , but manages as well the finances in quite a few other condo associations in the area.

 

1.) A complaint with the DBPR filed in November: So far no response!

2.) A complaint filed with the FBI – no response

3.) Police Department: See above: investigation still ongoing!

4.) Complaint filed against Herrin’s CAM license CAM 19370, still listed as Delinquent, Active

5.) Complaint filed against Star Hospitality Management, Inc. CAM license (CAB2912): DBPR website shows: Current – No Complaints Filed!

 

Even the IRS doesn’t seem to be interested in the fact that Stacy Herrin did not pay taxes on ill-gained money. She seems to be still enjoying the spoils of her work at Charlotte Squares (according to accounting records more than $1 million).

 

According to court records, Stacy Herrin has been arrested three times for DUI, Driving without a license, etc. The latest DUI /Driving without a license incident ended with a sentence of probation in January 2009.

 

But the innocent owners, who were obviously stupid enough to trust a management firm, suffer the consequences. Many of them are over 80 years old and live on Social Security – and surely don’t have money for special assessments caused by embezzlement of funds – to replace money that was supposed to serve for upkeep and repairs.

 

The indifference of the board makes everybody wonder what further investigations may uncover.

 

The more owners look – nobody else doesn’t seem to show an interest – the bigger the mess gets.

 

JUSTICE IN FLORIDA – OBVIOUSLY NON-EXISTENT!



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