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Miami condo board member stole $20,000 while maintenance work went undone, police say

Not only does a Miami-Dade police arrest report accuse Gerald DeAngelo of stealing between $20,000 and $100,000 during his 15 years on the Marquis Villas-II Condominium Association board, it paints him as being lazy on the cover-up.

Speaking of painting, the report says DeAngelo provided fake invoices for painting buildings, work that homeowners couldn’t remember ever being done. The invoices claimed to change signs that hadn’t been changed. The invoices sometimes had only the first name of the workmen allegedly paid.

DeAngelo was arrested Wednesday on one count of grand theft between $20,000 and $100,000. The report said the 56-year-old took advantage of his right to remain silent. According to Miami-Dade Corrections online records, DeAngelo has already posted bond and been released from Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

“This arrest of a longtime Marquis Villas-II Condominium Association president is another example of the problem that too many Florida residents are facing today,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle said. “The legislative package of condo and HOA legal reforms we are presently advocating for in Tallahassee will promote the rights of homeowners to be free of such victimization. Our present laws are desperately in need of reform and strengthening.”

Holding the presidency — and the cash

DeAngelo bought his three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom, 1,180-square-foot unit at Marquis Villas II for $88,900 in 2001, a year after Miami-Dade property records say Nima Development built the 44-unit complex in the 6700 block of Northwest 182nd Street.

State filings for the condominium association say DeAngelo joined the association’s board in 2004; became president in 2009; treasurer along with being president in 2014; stepped down to vice president in 2019 before being removed entirely that same year.

By that point, the arrest report says, “the association’s reserve bank account was nearly depleted” despite maintenance fees that should put $105,600 per year in the association’s account. The previous property manager told investigators that DeAngelo told him to worry only about collecting the maintenance fees.

At some point, DeAngelo became the only signer on one association bank account and the only signer and holder of the only checking card linked to another account. Then again, the arrest report says, that second association account had his name on it. Over his last year on the board, DeAngelo made $18,940 in ATM withdrawals on the account, the report says.

Following his removal, DeAngelo was asked for invoices for work and records of ATM withdrawals.

“Once [DeAngelo] produced some form of documentation for the ATM withdrawals, it was apparent that [DeAngelo] fabricated the invoices provided that were allegedly for work completed around the association,” the report said.

There were invoices for work done, but no 1099 tax forms for that work, the report said. There were invoices for work done on Saturday or Sunday, when work isn’t allowed.

“Various invoices have only a first name of an individual who cannot be traced anywhere,” the report said.

Those one-name individuals supposedly painted buildings, replaced light bulbs, sod, grass, sidewalks, did roof repairs and removed appliances.

Problem was, according to the report, the light bulbs hadn’t been replaced. The board had to pay $7,000 to replace the light bulbs and fixtures. Homeowners couldn’t remember buildings being painted, sidewalks being replaced or sod and grass being replaced. Where invoices said there should’ve been new signs, old ones remained.

Taking appliances and furniture out of units? That’s a problem for the owner, not the association.

The report said DeAngelo didn’t bother to come up with invoices to explain the five checks on the association’s account worth $3,400, pay to the order of “Cash,” and with his signature.