Aventura Condo Manager Has Plenty Of Hot Water: Police

Article Courtesy of The Patch
By Paul Scicchitano

Published August 29, 2017

A condo property manager in Aventura can't complain about the lack of hot water. Donovan M. Staley has plenty to go around since police charged him with demanding a kickback from a contractor who did work at the Admiral's Port condominium where Staley worked. He is also accused off stealing laundry money.

The 33-year-old Fort Lauderdale man was charged with organized fraud involving $20,000 or less, third-degree theft and unlawful use of a communications device in connection with the alleged kickback scheme. Staley was also accused of stealing cash from a machine that residents used to purchase laundry room services.

"It seems that Donovan Staley alleged to try to exploit an emergency electrical situation at the condominium, which required a quick repair by adding — or padding — $6,000 to the real cost of that repair into his pocket," Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle told reporters in announcing the arrest this week.

The electrical work was to be performed by Safety Electric Inc., which initially submitted an estimate of $12,800 for the project in late July. Staley allegedly directed his building engineer to go back and ask the contractor to charge $3,000 more for the repair so Staley could pocket the difference.

"He was told the money was to be returned to the defendant to secure the job," Aventura police said of the contractor in arrest documents.

Within days, Staley allegedly decided that the $3,ooo kickback wasn't enough. He asked his building engineer to go back and add another $3,000 to the job for what amounted to a whopping 47 percent kickback on the original estimate.

The owner of the electrical company showed up with a Wells Fargo Bank envelope stuffed with $6,000 in cash on Tuesday, police in toe.

Donovan M. Staley is accused of demanding a kickback from a contractor who was hired to do a job at the Admiral's Port condominium.

"This cash was to be given to the defendant for this contract and to secure future contracts during a renovation process," arrest documents said.

Staley was taken into custody a short time later with the envelope still in his pocket, according to arrest documents. In addition, Staley could be seen on surveillance video taking the laundry money on at least three different occasions in August. Residents placed the cash in the machine to purchase laundry services.