Residents of the Charlotte Square Condominiums are
angry and concerned after learning that hundreds of thousands of dollars
from several of the condominium association's accounts have reportedly
turned up missing.
Losses at just one of the nine buildings in the
55-and-older complex are estimated at more than $140,000. Losses at
the other buildings have yet to be tallied, but some residents
estimate the figure is nearly $1 million.
The missing money apparently came to light three
weeks ago when the treasurer of the Charlotte Square Condominium
Association -- an 88-year-old volunteer who did not want to be named --
noticed what appeared to be bounced checks and reported the discrepancy
to the property management agency.
In the ensuing days, the agency, Star Hospitality
Management of Punta Gorda, fired an employee who handled banking and
billing for the complex, according to several residents who are active
in the condominium association.
Sherry Danko, president of the management company,
would not comment Wednesday, except to say that an investigation is
under way. She would not say whether the Sheriff's Office had been
notified.
Officials with the Sheriff's Office on Wednesday
could not immediately locate any complaints about the missing funds.
Two weeks ago, Danko held a special meeting to
tell residents that money was missing.
Few attended, said Doris Pistel, an active
resident who took notes at the meeting.
"Star Management has dismissed" the
employee "and filed a case with police," Pistel wrote in her
notes. "There has been stolen money and bounced checks. Suspect
cooked bank statements."
She also wrote that insurance bonds would cover
each building in the complex up to $50,000, a far cry from the amount
that appears to be missing.
Each building has its own condo association that
collects fees from residents for utilities, maintenance and repairs.
Star Management, however, has been handling all of
the finances for over a decade.
The loss is devastating to the 384 residents of
Charlotte Square, most of whom are very elderly. The condo complex is
located across the street from Fawcett Memorial Hospital.
"A lot of people here are living check to
check because they're widows and they lost their husband's side of the
Social Security check," said Lance Day, a resident of Cambridge
House, one of the buildings in the complex.
Day also was president of his building's
association for years, until recent medical problems caused him to step
down.
He said the financial situation at Charlotte
Square has been in a shambles at least since he bought his condo in
2004.
Even as president, he said, he never received good
financial records, only rough outlines of revenues and expenses with no
details.
In a precursor to today's problems at Charlotte
Square, water was shut off to the Cambridge House about four months ago.
The property manager failed to pay the bills, said John Jackomin, vice
president of the building's association.
The office manager told residents that she had
tried to pay the bill online, but that her computer had been giving her
problems, Jackomin said.
Jackomin and Day have been trying for days to get
access to their building's financial records to see how much, if any,
they have lost. But Star Management has refused them access to their own
records, Jackomin and Day said.
"Star Management is in there controlling the
whole office and won't let us into our papers or anything," Day
said, adding that he was told he needed a court order. "I'd like to
get a court order to get them out of there because they could be
possibly removing stuff that could be damaging to them."