Ex-Aventura condo manager charged with grand theft
Article Courtesy of The Miami Herald
By Lidia Dinkova
Published September 7, 2011
Lourdes Rodriguez, the former manager of the Atlantic II, is accused of taking nearly $500,000 from the condo association.
More than a year after a complaint was filed with authorities that an Aventura condominium association manager had embezzled about half a million dollars from the association, the State Attorney’s Office has issued an arrest warrant for the confessed suspect, according to Aventura police.
Lourdes Rodriguez, 48, the former general manager of the Atlantic II, has been charged with grand theft and organized fraud, according to Aventura police. The charges are first-degree felonies.
Since the release of the arrest warrant, Aventura police have searched for her without any luck.
“I have exhausted all of my leads as far as trying to find her,” Aventura Det. Emilio Perez said Friday.
Aventura police do not believe Rodriguez is anywhere in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
The saga began in February 2010 when auditors alerted the association’s board that Rodriguez had been receiving a salary higher than what was approved, said Gary Green, president of the Atlantic II board.
Green said the board hired an accounting firm to analyze the condominium association’s account. According to the firm, Rodriguez had allegedly taken about $506,956 from the association from January 2007 to February 2010. The majority was used to pay unauthorized credit card charges and the rest was taken as unauthorized payroll overpayments, police said.
“This was somebody with whom I had been working with very closely for years,” Green said in an interview in April. “She seemed to be honest. I was fooled.”
When the board members confronted her in February 2010, Rodriguez, who had worked at the association since May 2004, confessed and resigned.
“She said she was very sorry, very embarrassed and wanted to make it up to us,” Green said.
Two weeks later, on Feb. 22, Rodriguez e-mailed residents, apologizing and blaming her actions on a gambling addiction.
“What has made me lose everything I love, my job, my friends, my home, has been an addiction to gambling,’’ she wrote. “I don’t have words to express the shame, humiliation, and hurt that I feel,” Rodriguez added. “I have no words to express this and I take full responsibility for my actions.”
Rodriguez told board members she wanted to pay back the association but she acknowledged she lacked the funds to do so, Green said. In the e-mail, she vowed to repay the association “no matter how long it may take.”
The association has recouped about $400,000 from its insurance company.
In April, Green said the condominium board has hired a management company, AKAM On-Site, to handle the association’s accounts. Green did not return a telephone call on Friday.
More than a year after a complaint was filed with authorities that an Aventura condominium association manager had embezzled about half a million dollars from the association, the State Attorney’s Office has issued an arrest warrant for the confessed suspect, according to Aventura police.
Lourdes Rodriguez, 48, the former general manager of the Atlantic II, has been charged with grand theft and organized fraud, according to Aventura police. The charges are first-degree felonies.
Since the release of the arrest warrant, Aventura police have searched for her without any luck.
“I have exhausted all of my leads as far as trying to find her,” Aventura Det. Emilio Perez said Friday.
Aventura police do not believe Rodriguez is anywhere in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
The saga began in February 2010 when auditors alerted the association’s board that Rodriguez had been receiving a salary higher than what was approved, said Gary Green, president of the Atlantic II board.
Green said the board hired an accounting firm to analyze the condominium association’s account. According to the firm, Rodriguez had allegedly taken about $506,956 from the association from January 2007 to February 2010. The majority was used to pay unauthorized credit card charges and the rest was taken as unauthorized payroll overpayments, police said.
“This was somebody with whom I had been working with very closely for years,” Green said in an interview in April. “She seemed to be honest. I was fooled.”
When the board members confronted her in February 2010, Rodriguez, who had worked at the association since May 2004, confessed and resigned.
“She said she was very sorry, very embarrassed and wanted to make it up to us,” Green said.
Two weeks later, on Feb. 22, Rodriguez e-mailed residents, apologizing and blaming her actions on a gambling addiction.
“What has made me lose everything I love, my job, my friends, my home, has been an addiction to gambling,’’ she wrote. “I don’t have words to express the shame, humiliation, and hurt that I feel,” Rodriguez added. “I have no words to express this and I take full responsibility for my actions.”
Rodriguez told board members she wanted to pay back the association but she acknowledged she lacked the funds to do so, Green said. In the e-mail, she vowed to repay the association “no matter how long it may take.”
The association has recouped about $400,000 from its insurance company.
In April, Green said the condominium board has hired a management company, AKAM On-Site, to handle the association’s accounts. Green did not return a telephone call on Friday.
