Crime & Safety
Woman Arrested, Charged With Stealing Nearly $500K From Metro Atlanta HOA
A 66-year-old woman has been arrested after she was accused of stealing nearly $500,000 from a HOA to go on vacations, said the GBI.
GEORGIA — An Alabama woman who is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Georgia homeowners association was arrested, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday.
The GBI said that 66-year-old Shirley Brown, of Calhoun County, Alabama, has been the property manager for the Mirror Lakes Homeowners Association in Villa Rica, Georgia. Brown managed the HOA’s bank account.
Villa Rica is a city in Carroll and Douglas counties Georgia and located roughly 30 miles west of Atlanta.
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In February 2021, the HOA board noticed a discrepancy in the bank account of more than $189,000.
Investigators said that Brown wrote herself unauthorized checks claiming them to be for bonuses and vacation pay. An official audit was conducted, and the amount of unauthorized bonus and vacation payments totaled $498,815 between January 2015 to January 2021, the GBI said.
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Brown was arrested earlier this week and charged with one count of theft by taking.
The GBI says their investigation is ongoing.
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