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Desperately need advice! Would this still be considered criminal??

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hollywood32250

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

I am one of 3 condominium homeowners. I held title of president, vice president and secretary until another homeowner moved away and rented out their side. She then handed over the treasury part of it to me. Her and I BOTH opened up a bank account for our HOA so it had both our names on it. We had no business checks so I would have to write out checks for some of our bills out of my personal account and I would transfer the funds from our HOA to my personal. (both are the same bank) I lost my job the end of 2007 and havent been able to make the HOA payments of $425 each month since. I've also since went into foreclosure (stopped making house payments around February 2009). Our condo insurance also lasped due to late payment and we had no insurance during 2008 until now. The owner who used to do the treasury found out and has since taken over the treasury part of our HOA and acquired insurance. She has filed a criminal case against me claiming I have stolen $10,000 some odd dollars from the HOA account. Now, I am being completely honest in saying that I DID pay many bills for our HOA and I kept all receipts, payments stubs and transfer slips as proof. What I AM guilty of (i know it was a STUPID thing to do but I guess my pride was too good to ask family or friends) is, I transferred $3000 and then another $1000 into my personal account and used it for personal use and paid the ENTIRE $4000 back in 2 weeks. There is not ONE PENNY of the HOA funds to this day in my account that shouldnt be. Yes, it was a STUPID mistake and times are tough for us all. My question is, i've consulted with a couple attorneys and one said, this should be a civil case not a criminal case since there is NO MONEY MISSING. Another said, I could face 5 years in prison for borrowing that money for the 2 weeks. I've NEVER had ANY trouble with police and background is CLEAN!!! Me not paying my HOA dues couldnt be considered stealing could it??? Also, I was able to go to the bank and get a copy of the statements for the HOA, apparently the owner who has brought this case about wasnt even paying HER dues!! She just deposited $2550 sept 2009 which would have been catch up for 6 months yet in looking at the past 12 month statement she hasnt paid ANY!! Also, she had a cashiers check drawn up for $4500 beginning of Oct 2009 and another for $1500 middle of Oct 2009 and another transfer to an unknown account which the teller confirmed to be hers of around $500. Now, I'm sure she is using the funds to acquire insurance however, couldn't I CLAIM HER OF STEALING since I wasn't informed of these withdrawals????? Also, she has removed my name from the HOA corporation docs and I am STILL A HOMEOWNER! Is that legal?? The $10,000 allegation is made up of bills that were ACTUALLY paid for our HOA and I have all documentation. The only thing I am admitting (which again, I know was wrong) was borrowing the $4000 for 2 weeks.
Does anyone know if this would still be considered a criminal felony once I provided the documentation of all the bills I paid for our HOA??? And what reprecusions would I be looking at for my wrongdoing in borrowing those funds for 2 weeks?? Thank you in advance!
I am so afraid that I will NEVER be able to gain employment again if I have a criminal record!!
 


outonbail

Senior Member
If this was a corporation then yes, you were not allowed to use that money for your personal business. When you paid your bills with the corporations money, you were stealing.

I haven't read the laws of your state however in most states you have to have intent to be guilty of theft. You would have to know it was illegal and have done it anyway. Now proving you had no intent to steal or defraud the corporation may not come easy in your case, because as the president, vice president, secretary or treasurer of a corporation, you should have known your actions were illegal.

If this were a partnership and not a corporation, then withdrawing money for personal use would not have been a crime, but rather a civil matter between partners.

Are you claiming that although you broke the law and used corporation funds for your own personal bills, that you replaced all the money you withdrew, so the corporation is not actually out any money?

Where is this $10,000.00 figure coming from if you repaid the money?

Has any outside accounting firm done an audit of the books?

To prove there is money missing, it will most likely require an independent review of the corporations books as well as your personal accounts to determine whether there is money missing and if so, when it was withdrawn and where it went.
Either way, you have to realize that simply withdrawing and/or transferring the money from the corporation's account into your personal account and then paying personal bills with the transfered money, is illegal. Even if you paid it back, you still broke the law.
You need to stop admitting to the fact that you did commit a crime and hire an attorney. Just not the one who told you it is not a crime.

It may be that the bookkeeping and accounting of corporation money was never properly handled and this haphazard practice of passing the accounting duties around like a hot potato will spoil any possibility of arriving at what really went on.

This is why you need to stop talking about the situation with anyone other than your attorney!
 

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