WOMAN CHARGED WITH STEALING OVER $350,000 FROM HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATIONS

By WVUA 23 Web Writer Jessa Reid Bolling

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A Birmingham woman was charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for stealing more than $350,000 from homeowner associations, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton.

Jill Rouse Boothby, 42, was charged with one count of wire fraud. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that she will plead guilty to the charge and pay restitution in the amount of $375,750.

Boothby was employed as a property manager at Boothby Realty from 2008 to January 2015. She was personally responsible for the management of 11 condominium associations in the Birmingham metropolitan area. She also owned and operated an interior design business called Jill Boothby Designs, a separate and independent company from Boothby Realty and is run solely by Boothby.

The government’s plea agreement with Boothby states that, beginning in late 2012, and continuing to January 2015, Boothby created false and fraudulent invoices in the name of her company, Jill Boothby Designs, for good and services that were never actually purchased by Boothby or her design company.

Boothby submitted the invoices to her employer, Boothby Realty, with a copy to the homeowner associations’ funds. The realty company paid the fraudulent invoices to Boothby out of the associations’ funds.

To further conceal the fraud, Boothby altered the monthly financial statements that were submitted to Boothby Realty to be mailed or emailed to the associations.

The maximum punishment for wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Beardsley Mark is prosecuting.