Y R O T S E CRIM BY: MS. TERRI GUEST, CIRMS, CMCA, BERG INSURANCE AGENCY
I
t seems that, more and more in our industry, we hear about community associations being taken advantage of by those they should trust. Community managers, members of the boards of directors and even vendors conspire to embezzle funds from the associations they work with. These people are often seen as criminals who care nothing for those from which they steal. Their co-workers and fellow board members feel tricked and taken advantage of, believing they never really knew them at all - thinking that those they believed were friends were actually faking it just to make a cash grab. I’m here to tell you another side of the story. I’m an insurance agent who specializes in community associations. One of my best friends was convicted of embezzlement from a company we both worked for, and I had no idea. There were clues, but I didn’t realize what was really going on because she was my friend, and I didn’t believe she could be capable of something like that.
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CONNECT MAGAZINE • ISSUE TWO 2021
While the company is not part of the CID industry, I thought it might be helpful to interview her; to share the other side of the story in order to provide help and hope. To protect her identity, we will call her “Mary” (M). T: How did this start? M: I was in a relationship with someone. He informed me that he had used my work credit card to purchase flights for his daughter for custody visits. I freaked out, but instead of turning him in, I became scared and selfish and decided to try and figure out how to fix things at work. But I wasn’t scared enough to make positive choices. I guess I was more scared of getting caught and losing my son. I then continued to make bad choices and used the card myself to help get my stepdaughter flights, as well as pay for food and some bills in an attempt to get us caught up. It was not rational, it was not right, but that is what happened and is the sad, embarrassing truth.
