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Article
and Video Courtesy of Channel 9, Orlando
By
Ryan Raiche
Published
September 14, 2012
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 Watch
VIDEO
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DAVENPORT, Fla. - The head of a Davenport Home
Owner’s Association may have some explaining to do to hundreds of
residents.
David Meadows is accused of stealing
more than a half million dollars of the association’s
money by issuing bogus fines and doing business with his
own companies.
The
state attorney’s office launched an investigation after
numerous complaints from residents. Deputies arrested
Meadows on Tuesday.
“They
fine everyday,” said Danielle Groth about the HOA’s
routine practice of issuing fines to
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residents.
Groth
has lived at Bimini Bay for about four years. In that time, she says she
has witnessed the HOA issue 100 dollar a day fines from anything from
cigarette butts on the ground, the wrong kind of blinds, to kids' toys
left in the yard.
| “The way that they get you is that
you move in and everything is supposed to be included and
then you get overage fees every month,” she said.
The state attorney’s office says
Meadows used this scheme of defrauding residents to bring
in more money not for the association, but for his own
personal use.
Investigators
say he used it to pay his own mortgage and bills for other
companies that he |
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owns,
including a water company. Until recently, that was the utility
contracted with the association.
The state attorney’s office says since he was the
HOA president and the board only consisted of he and his wife, Meadows
easily made deals with his own companies.
“Everybody in here has been having problems with
their water,” Groth said. “They charge you this, they charge you that
-- they can never tell you where they get their numbers from.
Basically, living here has just become no good.”
Part of the frustration is the dues that everyone
pays are supposed to go towards maintaining the property, and she feels
it’s not being maintained.
Meadows has been charged with scheming to defraud,
grand theft, money laundering, and a violation of the white collar crime
protection act.
He’s currently out on bond.
Calls to the HOA office and Meadows' phone have not
been returned.
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