Complaint Review: Clusters at Woodlawn Gloria J. Derobertis Mark S. Hellwig Brian D. LeClair Gita Lainez

Clusters at Woodlawn Condominiums board of directors defrauds homeowners by embezzling their monthly assessments and engaging in conspiracy with the property manager and has been so for over 15 years. Past and current board members include Gloria J. Derobertis, of 8624 B Beekman Place, Alexandria, VA, Mark S. Hellwig, of 8619 B Beekman, Brian D. LeClair of 8621 B Beekman, Anna M. Cabell, of 8601 C Beekman, Jean D. Bolen, formerly of 8619 A Beekman, James R. Gerling, formerly of 8629 B & D Beekman, and Nathan Grimsley, formerly of 8621 A Beekman.

Monthly assessments pay for: landscaping, snow removal, garbage removal, litter pickup, routine property maintenance, pest control, taxes, insurance, water, reserve fund, loan repayment, property manager Gita Lainez's of Community Management Corp. (CMC) salary, and lawyer Kelly C. Zook's of Rees Broome, and Whiteford, Taylor & Preston's retainers.

The annual expenditures for the current year as well as the proposed budget for the following year are available to homeowners each December. However, the board, manager, and lawyer repeatedly refuse to answer homeowners' questions, including the following:

1) Why did we pay $25,000 for snow removal when it did not snow once last winter? And why is that figure not included as a debit on next year's proposed budget?

2) Why do we pay $18.00-21.00 per hour; that is, $8.00-11.00 over minimum wage, for unskilled labor? Why do we pay him to pick up litter but no one supervises either his number of hours or his job performance?

3) Why do we pay for routine property maintenance yet next year's budget includes a $2000 line item to repair, not replace, a 24-inch long crack in one sidewalk tile? When cement filler costs $14.75 at a hardware store?

4) Why do we pay $65,000 to empty eight garbage dumpsters twice a week when the quotes we obtained from four garbage companies were $20,000-30,000 lower? 

They refused to even tell us the names of the companies they contracted with.

When homeowners asked for evidence: the three competing bids for services (required in the bylaws), vendor bills and paid receipts for each separate service, or bank statements/checkstubs corroborating same, Ms. Lainez said we could view such records onsite in CMC's Chantilly, VA office between 9-5 M-F at a cost of $50.00 per hour. She explained that the fee paid a clerk to supervise. When we asked why an uneducated, unskilled clerk earns $50.00 per hour and asked to see his W2 form or paystub she did not reply. But when ten homeowners made an appointment to see the abovementioned records the manager hastily amended that the fee was $50.00 per hour per person. 

A group of homeowners devoted two years to trying to obtain any information re: budget and expenditures. The board, manager, and lawyer repeatedly, resolutely, and completely failed to be forthcoming or accountable, which leave homeowners no choice but to believe the preponderance of evidence: that they routinely inflate the service costs they report on budgets and pocket the difference. They are embezzling funds, engaging in conspiracy, stealing from their neighbors, and lying to us.

Caveat emptor, future homebuyers at Clusters at Woodlawn!