Howard Engleberg, an association manager and owner of the management company CAMM, pled guilty to charges of felony theft, in Denver County on June 16, 2003 and in Arapahoe County on June 17, 2003. Both charges arose from theft of funds from community associations he managed over several years.
 
In the Arapahoe County case, the charges related to theft of $50,064.38 from one community association. The Denver County case related to theft of $42,417.00 from a different community association. Although there were no charges brought on behalf of any other associations, the Arapahoe County investigator noted that her investigation uncovered eleven other associations from which Engleberg accepted checks and deposited into his bank accounts.
 
As part of the sentencing in each county, he was ordered to pay restitution to both associations. Arapahoe County further sentenced him to four years probation, 500 hours of community service and ordered him to write a letter of apology to all the victims. Denver County sentenced Engleberg to three years probation to be served concurrently with the sentence in Arapahoe County and to be supervised through Arapahoe County.
 
Although theft of this sort is rare in community associations – it does happen. Board members have a fiduciary duty to review and understand the association’s financial reports and insure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect association funds from theft. For more information about how to safeguard the association, including its funds, click here.