MARTIN COUNTY — A Stuart man was arrested July 1 after he was accused of taking over $800,000 from homeowners associations in Palm City, according to complaint and arrest affidavits released Aug. 6.

Scott Michael Brechbill, 41, of the 400 block of Southeast Fini Drive in Stuart, was charged with second-degree grand theft less than $100,000; first-degree grand theft over $100,000; organized fraud of $50,000 or more; and obtaining property less than $50,000, according to the Martin County Clerk of Courts.

He was taken into custody on July 1 and bonded out of the Martin County Jail the same day. His bond was $2.1 million.

Brechbill's attorney for the case is John Davis Lewis III, according to the Martin County Clerk of Courts. Lewis could not be reached for comment.

On June 26, 2023, a Martin County sheriff's corporal met with a member of the homeowner's association of Starling Court in the Martin Downs Country Club in Palm City. The man told the corporal that Starling Court recently hired a new property management company and while reviewing records, discovered discrepancies in the community's banking accounts while under the management of C & M Property Management LLC.

The man reported that it seemed large amounts of money were being deposited into C & M Property's bank account from Starling Court's bank account, according to the complaint affidavit.

A detective was assigned to the case, and met at the Sheriff's Office with the man and other board members. The detective was given multiple bank account statements showing large transfers between Starling Court and C & M Property Management.

The member who reported the issue stated he believed Brechbill, the property manager and owner of C & M Property Management was transferring money from the HOA's bank account into his personal account, according to the complaint affidavit.

In July 2023 the detective requested subpoenas from the State Attorney's Office to get copies of Starling Court's bank statements with Truist Bank. They saw large transfers and asked the bank where the funds were being sent to, but the bank could not find any record in their system of the account the detective was looking for.

In January 2024, the detective talked to Brechbill's father who said Scott Brechbill owned and operated C & M Property Management, and his name was also on the business, but his son ran the day-to-day operations, according to the complaint affidavit.

The detective then spoke with Scott Brechbill over the phone who said he no longer operated C & M, but while he did he used a third-party company, Appfolio, to streamline payments to and from the HOAs. He stated he no longer had access to the HOA's records, but he was aware of the complaints from the board members.

The detective asked Brechbill about the large transfers, and he said because of Appfolio, the payments looked like they were being sent to C & M, but they were being directly sent to the venders, such as lawn maintenance.

The detective requested a subpoena for Appfolio to get the records for all of the communities that C & M managed.

On March 8, 2024, the detective was assigned another case for an investigation involving Brechbill transferring large amounts of money from another HOA within the Martin Downs Country Club community.

The detective spoke with someone from Signature Property Management that had recently acquired the Quail Meadow community, previously managed by Brechbill. The man said Brechbill did not turn over any paperwork, even after multiple requests, so he requested statements from Seacoast Bank for Quail Meadow's bank records and found hundreds of thousands of dollars had been transferred to Brechbill and C & M Property Management, according to the complaint affidavit.

On May 17, 2024, Appfolio provided the detective with spreadsheets for every community managed by C & M Property Management. The detective began going through years of bank statements and all of the documents from Appfolio.

The dates of the statements for Starling Court were between April 2018 and January 2023 and the statements for Quail Meadow were between April 2018 and July 2023. Brechbill transferred $820,777.51 from Quail Meadow HOA's back account to C & M Property Management's bank account, which was used as his personal account, according to the complaint affidavit.

Brechbill was taken into custody on July 1, 2025 on two Martin County warrants.

The first degree grand theft charge is for unlawfully obtaining $100,000 or more from Quail Meadow Homeowner’s Association, according to the complaint affidavit.

The organized fraud of $50,000 or more charge is for transferring funds from Quail Meadow Homeowner’s Association and Starling Court Homeowner’s Association, according to the complaint affidavit.

The second degree grand theft charge is for unlawfully obtaining $20,000 or more from Starling Court Homeowner’s Association, according to the arrest warrant.

The obtaining property less than $50,000 charge is for the intent to obtain a property from one or more persons by false pretenses and obtaining property of $20,000 or more but less than $50,000, according to the arrest warrant.