Resort Manager pleads guilty to stealing money from Bon Temps Village HOA

[TUGBrian]

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/03/couple_plead_not_guilty_to_tim.html

amazing the sort of scum that exists in this industry.

 

[Tia]

And why owners need to be paying attention to the numbers etc.

 

[TUGBrian]

she gets 6 years in prison!

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/05/woman_gets_prison_time_for_ste.html

 

[VegasBella]

For anyone who can't or doesn't want to follow the links, the details are:

The former manager of a Mandeville timeshare resort was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison at hard labor for stealing more than $200,000 from the timeshare's nonprofit homeowners association. [...]
Her husband, Jimmy Sturdivant, [... received] four years probation, saying during the couple's sentencing hearing that his sentence was lesser because, except for a few items, it appeared he was not as involved in the theft as his wife.

At first she wrote herself two paychecks instead of one, he said. She and her husband bought a car that year and used an $8,000 check from Bon Temps as a down payment. Over the next three years, more than 100 checks were written to cash and others to pay the Sturdivants' bills and mortgage. One was used to rent a limousine, the Sheriff's Office said. Other checks were written for spa treatments, vacation rentals, gifts and lawn equipment, according to authorities. Dwyer said Sturdivant paid for private school tuition from the association's account.

Toward the end of the spree, bills started piling up and, according to the Sheriff's Office, Amanda Sturdivant wrote a check to the timeshare from her dead grandmother's credit card account in an attempt to pay off some of the bills.

 

[RX8]

Sentenced to six years at HARD labor?


I didn't think we even had that in the US anymore.

How hard can it be to make license plates?

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Sentenced to six years at HARD labor?


I didn't think we even had that in the US anymore.

How hard can it be to make license plates?

Yeah - hard labor in prison isn't what it used to be. (from what is probably my all-time favorite movie).

 

[hnybee09]

I was an owner at that resort, what if anything is being done for us? I have not been able to get any information.

 

[Talent312]

I was an owner at that resort, what if anything is being done for us? I have not been able to get any information.

Apparently, your HOA didn't miss the $$ for three years. It sounds like no one was looking over her shoulder. The women's group at our church has a $12,000 budget. An invoice or voucher (w-receipts) must be approved by two officers before a dime is drawn, and the account is audited annually to make sure they match up.

IMHO, the BOD should be on the hook for failing to provide enuff oversight.
Was the manager bonded? If so, they could go after the bond $$.
.

 

[hnybee09]

I had just bought mine at the end of 2010 and never got to use it! I am completely in the dark.

 

[theo]

i'm not going to name or "plug" any timeshare management companies; that is not at all my intent in making the following observation.

This completely avoidable situation is a very good example of why a professional timeshare management company (rather than just one individual, hired off the street) should be under a tight and well defined contract for property management. Legitimate management companies have experienced personnel, layers of oversight, legal experience, professional liability insurance --- and a reputation to uphold if they want to stay in business. One larcenous, unsupervised individual hired off the street brings none of those things to the table, thereby creating risk.

Otoh, what kind of BoD doesn't notice that the place is getting run down and facility bank account balances are inexplicably getting smaller?
I suppose the easy answer is "the same kind of BoD that would hire one person off the street to manage their timeshare property".

 

[b2bailey]

The story says they pleaded "not" guilty.

 

[theo]

The story says they pleaded "not" guilty.

SOP at arraignment (initial appearance to answer charges), but that plea can very easily change later in the face of overwhelming evidence.

 

[b2bailey]

It just always amazes me when people who are undeniably guilty plead "not".

 

[theo]

It just always amazes me when people who are undeniably guilty plead "not".

Innocent until proven guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt, with admissible evidence presented by the prosecution and allowed in by the court.
We are a nation of laws (...although Louisiana is a rather "unique" legal world unto itself). Both the initial "not guilty" plea and the later change to a (with a sentence recommendation likely negotiated first) "guilty" plea were both entirely predictable and appropriate in this matter.

 

[pedro47]

The person was given 6 years but will serve only three years in jail (3 years will be suspended for good behavior by the court system; just wait and see what happen in three years) .

 

[Talent312]

It just always amazes me when people who are undeniably guilty plead "not".

A plea of not-guilty is entered initially in most cases as a convenience to give the attorneys time to review the evidence and determine if there are defenses like coercion, serious mental illness, entrapment, self-defense, or violations of the U.S. Constitution... "technicalities" you might call 'em.

A plea of guilty up-front would waive any possible defense and, if one is later discovered, expose the lawyer to disciplinary action for being ineffective. Sorry, but nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

.

 

[jwalk03]

Sentenced to six years at HARD labor?


I didn't think we even had that in the US anymore.

How hard can it be to make license plates?

Leave it to Louisiana! Watch one of the documentaries about Angola Prision some time! They do things differently down on the bayou!