By Deborah Goonan, Independent American Communities
Nicanor F. Bada, Jr., was recently sentenced to 4 years of probation and ordered to make full restitution to Park Place Condominiums in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Residents became suspicisous when 20 of them discovered liens upon their condos for unpaid bills that were supposed to have been paid through their assessments. One resident, Katie Bloomgren volunteered her time to review financial records. She discovered that Bada had been embezzling money from the condo association from 2007 – 2012.
According the report linked below, Bada used the money for his gambling addiction. He has decided to plead guilty, has repaid about half of the money, and was ordered to pay roughly $51,000 in remaining debt to make full restitution.
The condo association, whose members are mainly senior citizens living off of retirement money, had originally agreed to allow Bada to repay $600 per month to avoid criminal charges. But when he did not keep his promise, the Board chose to press charges.
Former condo manager ordered to pay restitution
http://www.lowellsun.com/news/ci_29702897/former-condo-manager-ordered-pay-restitution
After following these reports for the past few years, the pattern is clear. Once an embezzler is caught, there are often promises to repay the Association. The Association wants to avoid embarrassment and negative publicity, so they agree to monthly repayments. But in almost all cases, those promises are broken, and the matter must be pursued by filing criminal charges.
And in many cases, the crime is allowed to occur unnoticed for years, because one individual is handed full control over the money.
Will Park Place residents get all of their money back? Maybe. Maybe not.
According to the report, assessments have already increased by $50 per month to make up for the loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.