Article Courtesy of The Patch
By Paul Scicchitano
Published August 29, 2017
A condo property manager in Aventura can't complain about
the lack of hot water. Donovan M. Staley has plenty to go around since
police charged him with demanding a kickback from a contractor who did work
at the Admiral's Port condominium where Staley worked. He is also accused
off stealing laundry money.
The 33-year-old Fort Lauderdale man was
charged with organized fraud involving $20,000 or less,
third-degree theft and unlawful use of a communications
device in connection with the alleged kickback scheme.
Staley was also accused of stealing cash from a machine that
residents used to purchase laundry room services.
"It seems that Donovan Staley alleged to try to exploit an
emergency electrical situation at the condominium, which
required a quick repair by adding — or padding — $6,000 to
the real cost of that repair into his pocket," Miami-Dade
County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle told
reporters in announcing the arrest this week.
The electrical work was to be performed by Safety Electric
Inc., which initially submitted an estimate of $12,800 for
the project in late July. Staley allegedly directed his
building engineer to go back and ask the contractor to
charge $3,000 more for the repair so Staley could pocket the
difference.
"He was told the money was to be returned to the defendant
to secure the job," Aventura police said of the contractor
in arrest documents.
Within days, Staley allegedly decided that the $3,ooo
kickback wasn't enough. He asked his building engineer to go
back and add another $3,000 to the job for what amounted to
a whopping 47 percent kickback on the original estimate.
The owner of the electrical company showed up with a
Wells Fargo Bank envelope stuffed with $6,000 in cash on
Tuesday, police in toe. |
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Donovan M. Staley is accused of demanding a kickback
from a contractor who was hired to do a job at the Admiral's Port
condominium.
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"This cash was to be given to the defendant for this contract and to secure
future contracts during a renovation process," arrest documents said.
Staley was taken into custody a short time later with the envelope still in
his pocket, according to arrest documents. In addition, Staley could be seen
on surveillance video taking the laundry money on at least three different
occasions in August. Residents placed the cash in the machine to purchase
laundry services.
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