Article
and Video Courtesy of Channel 13, Las Vegas
By
Darcy Spears
Published
December 6, 2010
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Watch
VIDEO
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Contact 13 first
unveiled the HOA Hall of Shame a few weeks ago.
Since then, you've
flooded us with email saying your HOAs belong there too.
But
one really stands out.
Chief
Investigator Darcy Spears introduces us to the man who
some homeowners say should be president of the HOA
Hall of Shame.
"He's
just awful! People don't even want to live here,"
says homeowner Amie-Jo Dinsio.
"He
picks and chooses people who he wants to fine," says
homeowner Joe Salvatore. |
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"He puts his hands
on people. He throws books at people," Amie-Jo adds.
It's one thing to talk
about Joseph Bitsky--the Autumn Chase HOA president.
It's quite another to
see him in action.
Homeowner Joe
Salvatore videotaped Bitsky and posted it on You Tube under the
heading, "The Bitsky Rant."
"So it's ok for
some people to have permission to park here but not others?"
Salvatore asks in that video.
"It's ok for people
who ask! Got it? Ask! Remember that!" Bitsky yells back.
Then he gets upset over
being recorded and threatens Salvatore, by saying, "This is gonna
cost you a lot of money! A lot!"
If you don't believe
your eyes after watching that clip, try your ears out on recordings
from HOA meetings.
"I said before you
lien you have to have a hearing," Salvatore can be heard telling
Bitsky.
Bitsky: "I do
not!"
Salvatore: "Yes you
do. Nevada Revised Statute..."
Bitsky: "You show
it to me!"
Salvatore: "I'll
give it to you, I'll find it."
Bitsky:
"Here's the book!!!" (On the recording, you can
hear a book being thrown) "Show it to me!!"
Salvatore:
"I don't appreciate you throwing things at me."
Bitsky:
"You're God damn right!"
And a
few minutes later, he yells, "Nevada Revised Statute
is wrong! You're wrong! Get out! Get out!" |
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"Bitsky law we call
it," says Amie-Jo with a twisted smile.
Joseph Bitsky has been
at the helm of the Autumn Chase HOA in North Las Vegas for ten years.
"We've had actual
homeowners meetings where he's had to hire bouncers just to stand at the
door," Amie-Jo recalls.
She and Joe Salvatore
represent a group of four homeowners who filed a complaint with the Nevada
Real Estate Division against Bitsky, his wife and their friend, who make
up the entire three-person Autumn Chase board.
"We want them
removed and we also want them to be held financially responsible for any
misappropriations that they've accumulated over the years," Salvatore
says.
In the complaint,
homeowners say Bitsky selectively fines people.
They cite the You Tube
rant as a case in point where Bitsky says, "Those people and those
people have permission to park here! Your friend doesn't! Got it?"
The homeowners say
he spends HOA money on things for his private home, like a
surveillance camera.
"He controls
everything," Amie-Jo says, shaking her head.
And they say he
disqualifies anyone who tries to oust him from office.
"It seems to be
about power--to have power over other people," says Salvatore.
"Because so far he's been held unaccountable for his actions."
That's until Contact 13
came on the scene.
"You've got some
homeowners who believe you belong in the Hall of Shame," Darcy Spears
told Bitsky.
"They're criminals.
They're all illegal, ok?"
Illegal in the HOA
sense, he explains.
"He said that I had
continuing fines going on and that's why I couldn't run for the
board," says Amie-Jo.
"What's a
continuing fine situation?" Spears asked Bitsky.
"Young lady,"
he responds, "you need a little bit of an education, ok? Go get the
education, then come back and ask the questions."
I assure him of my
educational background and he backs down.
"A continuing
violation is because they're going to do it again."
"Are you
psychic?" Spears asks.
Bitsky has an
outstanding fine of his own with the Nevada Real Estate Division.
In 2006, he was fined
$8,000 for working as a property manager without a state license.
"Why haven't you
paid that fine?" Spears asked.
"None of your
business."
We also ask him about
the surveillance camera on his home, which he admits he bought with
association money.
"Why should they
pay for you to have a video camera?" Spears asked.
"The person who
came and destroyed my van was a homeowner."
Spears: "That means
the entire community should pay for your camera?"
Bitsky: "It's not
mine it belongs to the association, thank you."
Spears: "But it's
mounted on your personal, private house."
He turns around, frowns,
then asks, "Is there a law against it?"
The law is something
Bitsky's had plenty of run-ins with.
Spears: "You're on
a first name basis with the cops?"
Bitsky: "No...no,
they know when I call, oh, ok Mr. Bitsky."
North Las Vegas police
confirm they've been to his house--where he holds every HOA
meeting--a dozen times in the last two years.
There's an open
investigation right now into a charge of false imprisonment stemming from
an October HOA meeting.
"At the end of the
meeting he locked us in his home because he found out that the recording
had taken place and he wouldn't let us out," Amie-Jo recalls.
State law requires HOA
meetings to be recorded.
But that doesn't stop
Bitsky from raising a stink.
On the audio recording
he can be heard screaming at the homeowners, "Erase it right
now! Erase it!"
Amie-Jo: "No, I am
not. I told you when I walked in the door I was recording."
Bitsky: "I told you
no. Alright, call the cops right now."
Amie-Jo: "You are
not calling the cops."
Bitsky: "I am
too!"
Amie-Jo: "Oh my
god!"
Bitsky: "Call the
cops right now!!"
We ask him why he deals
with his homeowners like that?
Bitsky: "It's not
how I deal with the homeowners."
Spears: "You're
dealing with me the same way."
Bitsky: "Look, it's
how I deal with jerks!"
We ask him about that
complaint on file with the Real Estate Division's Ombudsman.
"You know what the
Ombudsman has done? Nothing! Because the complaints were lies!"
While it's true the
Ombudsman hasn't done much yet, the State says it's purely due to backlog.
And let's not forget the
cherry on this cake.
"Why are you trying
to disqualify everyone that runs for the board?" Spears asked.
"Because they don't
fill out the forms properly."
Interesting sticking
point coming from a man who himself failed to fill out a form properly
back in 2005 when applying to the State for a community manager license.
"They denied your
application for a license based on failure to note you had a felony drug
conviction," Spears said.
Bitsky: "I didn't
have a felony drug conviction."
Spears: "So they're
wrong there too?"
Bitsky: "They're
wrong there because you better check!"
Joe, I did check.
Though
he later told me it was only a misdemeanor, we got the
minutes from the State hearing where Bitsky tried, but
failed, to appeal the license denial.
It says
he "forgot he had a prior felony" and
"accidentally omitted" that from his
application.
Spears:
"Why did you have that conviction?"
Bitsky:
"It was a possession." |
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Spears: "Of
what?"
Instead of answering, he
sticks his tongue out at me and smiles.
Spears: "You're
sticking your tongue out at me?!"
Exactly the attitude
homeowners say has made their neighborhood...
"Hostile,"
says Salvatore.
"Just awful,"
adds Amie-Jo.
So we asked Bitsky point
blank, "Do you belong in the HOA Hall of Shame?"
"No, no," he
protested. "It's the people who filed complaints for no reason
because they got fined! They belong in the HOA Hall of Shame!"
We'll keep you
posted on the outcome of the complaint pending with the State and whether
they're able to help the homeowners who want to remove Bitsky from the
board.
In
the meantime, if you'd like to see more of Mr. Bitsky, the entire
interview is posted in connection with this story. And don't forget to
keep sending us your nominations for the HOA Hall of Shame.
PART
II
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