OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — 9 Investigates uncovered similar allegations of theft from a different community against a former property manager now facing fraud charges.
Channel 9 investigative reporter Karla Ray has taken you every step of the way through the turmoil at Turnberry Reserve in Kissimmee that led to property manager Sherry Raposo being arrested for allegedly stealing HOA money to bail out her boyfriend when he was facing charges in North Carolina.
Now, homeowners at a different community in Seminole County are asking investigators to reopen a different investigation into Raposo and thousands of dollars that were moved from a separate HOA bank account.
READ: Turnberry Reserve whistleblower reflects on year of turmoil, changes
Sherry Raposo was once the property manager for Wintergreen at Winter Park off of State Road 436 in Casselberry. After a similar HOA board takeover there, records pointed to questionable account transfers, and a Casselberry police investigation into possible theft made it all the way to a conversation with prosecutors.
With income properties at Wintergreen at Winter Park, Joann Marks fought to sit on the HOA board after she and others saw problems in 2017. That led to a legal battle with the community’s former property manager, Management 35 Firm owner Sherry Raposo.
“During the court battle, the records were requested, and we got some we never got all,” Marks said. “They kept saying we had them all, but obviously we didn’t because, later on, that invoice pops up.”
READ: Former Turnberry Reserve property manager arrested on fraud-related charges
Marks is referring to an invoice produced by Raposo for Casselberry police after Marks raised questions about $14,400 taken out of the HOA account and deposited into a Management 35 Firm account, which happened without being reflected in meeting minutes.
“We were asking, ‘What’s this $14,400?’ Nobody would give us an answer,” Marks said.
9 Investigates reviewed the case notes from CPD. Financial crimes investigators followed all of the money and confirmed Raposo moved the thousands of dollars into her business or personal accounts. Eventually, Raposo submitted an invoice which “reflected a number of fees to include 320 hours of management labor costs, which included check input to homeowner accounts, ledger updating, contacting all prior vendors to obtain copies of checks and contracts and per the email rebuilding the HOA.”
The only witness to vouch for Raposo, the community’s former HOA President, changed his story from not knowing anything about the money to claiming he authorized the payment.
“Where are the checks? They’re part of HOA records. They have to be. That’s by law,” Marks said. “Anything that’s done, the ledgers, the checks are HOA records, and they were never given to us.”
In light of Raposo’s most recent arrest, we asked CPD whether they’d reopen the case. In fact, the information reviewed by Osceola County financial crimes investigators included documents from the CPD case.
In an email, Casselberry Police told us, “What the case really boiled down to was who had the authority to make the moves. Due to the tumultuous state of affairs among the opposing groups within the HOA it was unclear if criminal theft occurred.”
“I firmly believe she hasn’t proven that she earned it, so that’s all I’m saying,” Marks said. “You transfer money out of an account into your own account, and you have no proof you did the work; you only have the say so of a man the month prior claims he didn’t know anything about it. That seems very suspicious to me. That’s how I feel about it.”
