Woman suspected of defrauding homeowners association

Article Courtesy of The Ocala Star Banner

By Austin L. Miller

Published May 3, 2016

  

A former bookkeeper is accused of defrauding the Kingsland Ocala Waterway Homeowners Association out of more than $11,000 over four years.

Debby Lee Underwood, 44, of Ocala, was arrested Wednesday on a fraud charge, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office. She was booked into the jail at 5:13 p.m. and released at 12:35 a.m. Thursday on a $2,000 bond.
   

She could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

In late January, a sheriff's deputy went to 7500 SW 61st Ave. after receiving a call about a fraud. He talked with the office manager for Kingsland Ocala Waterway Homeowners Association. The woman said she had been reviewing bank deposits from 2014 and discovered that deposits made by Underwood were in inaccurate. The woman said she was still reviewing the documents and would call again when she was finished.

Detective Craig Evans got the call last month, according to his report. The office manager had documents that she believed showed Underwood defrauding the association.

As a bookkeeper, Underwood was responsible for collecting dues. Some homeowners would pay in cash, the office manager said, and Underwood would write a deposit and place the funds in petty cash, which was not authorized.

The problem went unnoticed, the woman said, because Underwood’s deposits were never audited. Underwood wrote the deposit slips, and when the reports were reviewed the money appeared to be there, the officer said. No one checked the actual deposits.

Debbie Lee Underwood


   
The woman said Underwood would write fraudulent deposits slips showing money was transferred from petty cash to the bank account. However, she said, bank records did not show the money being deposited into the bank.

The woman told Evans Underwood would receive the mail and was responsible for depositing checks from title companies. Underwood, she said, would write the deposit slip for the checks but would not write the correct amount on the slip.

For example, on Feb. 17, 2011, Underwood deposited several checks into the bank, according to the detective's report. One of the deposit slips showed a check for $344.41, though it was actually for $494.41, a difference of $150. Another check was listed as $401.79 but was actually for $501.79, a $100 difference.

The office manager told Evans the deposits are kept on a program call QuickBooks and, if anyone had later made changes, that would show up on the deposit records.

After reviewing all the homeowners association files and the checks that Underwood filed, the office manager concluded the fraud was committed from Aug. 17, 2010, through Sept. 10, 2014, and that Underwood stole $11,474.46 from the Homeowners association, according Evans' report.

The detective collected the documentation. On Wednesday, Underwood went to the Southwest District Office, but told Evans she has an attorney and declined to talk.

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