Property manager pocketed $500,000 in stolen vacation pay from HOA, Georgia police say

A Georgia property manager tasked with collecting homeowners association payments is accused of lining her pockets instead, state investigators say.

Shirley Brown, 66, of Eastaboga, Alabama, was charged with theft by taking after officials said she bilked nearly $500,000 from the Mirror Lakes Homeowners Association in Villa Rica over several years, according the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Brown, who worked as a property manager for the community, had been paying herself thousands in unauthorized bonuses and vacation pay, authorities said. Villa Rica police asked the GBI to step in after HOA board members noticed a discrepancy “totaling more than $189,000” within the association’s bank account in February 2021.

Investigators conducted an audit, revealing Brown wrote herself several checks claiming them as vacation and bonus pay, according to a news release. Between January 2015 and January 2021, authorities said she pocketed $498,815 in stolen pay from the Mirror Lakes HOA.

Brown was booked into the Carroll County Jail on June 8 and later released after posting $5,000 bond, online records show.

Authorities said the investigation is ongoing.

Villa Rica is about 30 miles west of downtown Atlanta.

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