My neighbor stole $80,000 from the Homeowners Association & blew it on shopping - she even bought a Lexus with our cash
A NEIGHBOR has been given jail time after allegedly stealing thousands from the subdivision's homeowners association.
Machell Marie Sims took over an Orange County, Virginia, HOA after struggles during 2020 and at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
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The Germanna Heights neighborhood previously had a homeowners association that consisted of seven board members, but it quickly disbanded amid the tumultuous times, per local ABC News outlet WRIC.
Although it's unclear how, sometime later, homeowners in the Orange County neighborhood reportedly discovered that their HOA payments had been routed to a different account — Sims' checking.
A debit card was also opened using the HOA account on Sims' behalf, and she allegedly used about $80,000 set aside for neighborhood necessities like "street paving, streetlights, and community events" to instead shop for several personal items.
Sims allegedly conducted sales at Macy's and bought a brand-new Lexus vehicle, among other products.
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In total, Sims spent about $79,720 from the HOA fund, as the account supposedly had just $280 remaining after her spending was discovered.
After she was taken into custody by police, Sims was given three felony charges of embezzlement, which she pleaded guilty to in April.
In court on Monday, Sims was sentenced to 15 years behind bars for each embezzlement charge, according to WRIC.
Those charges were ultimately suspended to just three years in prison with supervised probation after the neighbor's release.
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Sims had already paid $67,000 in restitution and was ordered to pay an additional $16,000 by the end of May 2023, per documents the outlet obtained from the Orange County Commonwealth’s Attorney.
The neighbor also had previous trouble with the law on embezzlement charges.
Before she began her work with Germanna Heights Phase I HOA in 2021, Sims pleaded guilty to embezzling around $6,000 while working as a contract special education teacher in Prince William County.
She spent two months behind bars for that situation, per WRIC.
Sims allegedly told homeowners at Germanna Heights that two month period was spent undergoing cancer treatments in Africa.
The residents at Germanna Heights I also aren't the only residents undergoing HOA struggles.
As The U.S. Sun previously reported, a neighbor in a subdivision in San Antonio, Texas, is fighting eviction after allegedly missing several homeowners association payments.
Air Force Master Sergeant Christopher Banda came home from deployment in Turkey to discover an eviction notice due to missed homeowners association fees from the SA Wolfcreek Homeowners Association, per local NBC News outlet WOAI.
Banda argued something allegedly went wrong — the funds weren't processed, and he wasn't notified of the missed payments until after the home was foreclosed upon.
Banda could potentially lose a $400,000 home because of $2,500 in unpaid homeowners association fees.
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For more neighbor content, check out The U.S. Sun's coverage of neighbors who are suing an Arizona city after a local rodeo was given $15million.
The U.S. Sun also has the story of a homeowner who claimed their neighbor threw out $1,000 worth of their medication.
