The former manager of Plymouth Hill Condominiums who bilked condo residents out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in a kickback scheme has pleaded guilty.
Vincent Lopez, 67, of Quakertown, pleaded guilty May 2 to using condo complex proceeds for personal gain, including theft by unlawful taking and criminal conspiracy for the fraud scheme, according to court papers.
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Lopez’s fraud amounted to $585,000, according to Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Steven Bunn, and other defendants allegedly stole $153,000 more.
“The defendant conspired with vendors to purposely overcharge the association,” said Bunn. “He opened a fraudulent account.”
Two co-defendants, Irving Betoff and Roosevelt Harris, were expected in court May 2 but did not appear. Bench warrants were issued for their arrests.
Sentencing for Lopez was deferred.
According to the criminal complaint, Lopez used the embezzled money to pay for hotels; purchases at jewelry and tobacco stores, wine and spirits stores and restaurants; and also a stay at Caliente, a nudist resort in Florida, between December 2006 and January 2011.
Lopez was fired in January and turned himself in to police in April.
For three months, detectives reportedly found discrepancies in the financial dealings of Lopez. According to the criminal complaint, a total of 72 checks made payable to Plymouth Hill Condominiums were deposited into a fraudulent Continental Bank account opened by Lopez.
In April of last year, Plymouth police Detective David Phillips, who oversaw part of the investigation, said Lopez was using Plymouth Hill Condominium corporate credit cards for personal use, without authorization or repayment to the condo association. Many credit card statements for these accounts were altered to eliminate account numbers, account balances, transaction locations, dates and amounts.
The condominiums, located at 666 West Germantown Pike, are a gated community with 350 units divided between two high-rise buildings. A six-person elected council oversees the community’s financial operations and condo owners are expected to pay association dues based on the size of their unit.
The previous week, a co-conspirator in the case pleaded guilty in court and has agreed to testify against his accomplices. Keith Brandolph, a salesperson with Siemens Fire Safety, is one of several contractors hired by Lopez to conduct work on the condos, all reportedly at an inflated price.
Brandolph told investigators he would agree to testify against Lopez and a man named John Jurkofsky, a private electrician hired by Siemens to install fire safety equipment. Brandolph pleaded guilty to one count of theft by deception and one count of engaging in criminal conspiracy, after he admitted to helping Lopez swindle hundreds of thousands of dollars to line their own pockets from condo owners.
