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Saturday, January 11, 2014

SunSentinal: Former Hallandale Condo Manager Pleads GUILTY

Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel
By Rafael Olmeda
Published January 5, 2014

(Click on link above for the original, and related stories)
  
The last remaining defendant in the alleged kickback scheme that cost Hallandale Beach condominium owners more than $3 million has pleaded guilty, his lawyer said Friday.

Robert Hittner, 65, who once managed the Parker Plaza Estates high-rise at 2030 S. Ocean Drive, was charged with three counts of communications fraud in connection with..

repair work that was done at the 520-unit complex.

On Thursday morning, Broward Circuit Judge Michael Robinson set jury selection to begin on Hittner's case Monday. But less than two hours later, Hittner was back in front of the judge pleading guilty to all charges, said defense lawyer Frank Negron.

Hittner faces 30 years in prison on each count. He will be sentenced Jan. 24.

According to prosecutors, Hittner, former plumbing contractor Ira Silver, former maintenance supervisor Angel Ramos and former condo association president Joseph Greenberg purposely inflated the cost of work that needed to be done on the building, requiring the contractors who performed the work to pay them the difference.
 Robert Hittner, left, with attorney Frank Negron during a hearing Jan. 2, 2014. Hittner later pled guilty to three counts of fraud.


The alleged scheme operated from 2003 to 2006. Unit owners uncovered financial discrepancies while investigating a proposed $14.3 million assessment in 2005. The investigation that followed lasted two years, ending in the arrest of the four men in May 2007.

Greenberg was the first to strike a deal with prosecutors, pleading no contest to fraud in Nov. 2007. He paid $250,000 in restitution and gave up his ownership of a condo unit valued at $290,000.

11 comments:

  1. As per the presidents letter i asked who is the inhouse plummer and electrician, the answer is we dont have any?????as per the violation letters i asked for the grevience comittie info!! We dont have a grievence comittie!!!! I asked for it in writing!!!!!! I guess no one in the office knows how to write either they no longer answer in writing!!!!!i said how about in crayon!!!!!

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    1. I really would like to see all the invoices for all the work done in the president's letter. As for the violation fines--no hearings, no committee= no fine can imposed according to FS 718.303. The rules and regulations need to revisited and rewritten.
      The office is closed more often than it is open...I wonder if staff have cut their pay accordingly? I doubt it. We have been duped and taken to the cleaners and paying for every bit of it.

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  2. There is a reason they dont want us to see anything, they are hiding all their sins,as they say it all comes out in the wash, of their own doing to many people are on to their lies and now they are scrambeling to cover their miss deeds, no matter what either personially or first first service will have to take responsibilty, no one gets away with out paying the tax,

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  3. As long as we are wondering i wonder who is doing the screenings of owners or rentals, thats the board od directors responsibilty, a few years back they were paying office staff 20 dollars per application above their pay checks, when we found tjis out ( we unit owners took over the responsibily)
    Some days there were 8 applications x20 dollars in their pockets needless to say they were not happy about this discovery again i wonder who is doing it now

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  4. On Tuesday January 7, the office lights were on - in the back until midnight. Santiago's wife, Revital was seen in the office at 9 pm, and at least one resident managed to capture a picture. Investigators are needed here.

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    1. Hello. Please post the picture if you are able. Thanks.

      ******Also let me take this moment to tell all that read and comment on this blog that it is best to be able to back up whatever claims you make. Claims should be able to be proven with evidence if needed. If you can not back up an allegation, it is best to not make such an allegation.(unlike the violation letters and board letter calling us hoodlums, etc) We can voice our opinions but grounded in truth and facts.******

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  5. our bylaws allow us to rent after ownership of sever years. To change a bylaw requires a vote by the entire membership and even then the FS indicates the term of rental can not be changed. Why is the association not allowing me to rent my empty unit? Do they think a rule made by the board can over ride our bylaws? Renting immediately to investors is a violation of our bylaws too yet it seems many investor units are rented, I am not an investor and have owned and lived in Jade Winds for Many Years. Anyone have any insight into this matter? This is creating a tremendous hardship on my family as I can not sell my unit because of all the construction and now they are saying I can not rent it until my name comes up on some kind of list. Any insight or advise will be helpful.

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  6. F.S. Chapter 718 Section 110

    13) An amendment prohibiting unit owners from renting their units or altering the duration of the rental term or specifying or limiting the number of times unit owner are entitled to rent their units during a specified period applies only to unit owners who consent to the amendment and unit owners who acquire title to their units after the effective date of that amendment.

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  7. VERY SIMPLE PEOPLE!!!!!!!!

    LOOK at the lengths of evil the managment and board are going to to keep us from knowing whats going on, calling us hoodlums, vandels, accusing us of violence. And out and out lieing to protect themselfs, and keeping us from any and all information we are intilted to by law, most of us dont think twice, the fools that they are not only hace us thinking but using a magnifung glass, any one on the up and up and honest would welcome questions, or invite people to see whats go on, insted they lie and block us call us names and fine us for lies WHAT DONT THEY WANT US TO FIND????

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    1. they dont want you to find the "Truth"... they are the hoodlums who are stilling from the residents… I bet a certain board president does not have a problem renting out all of his units!

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