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Former Albuquerque HOA President charged with embezzlement, forgery - YouTube
Channel: KRQE
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people in a small pocket of Albuquerque
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say one of their neighbors has been
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quietly pocketing thousands of dollars
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of their money for years but as News 13s
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Gabrielle Burkhart reports on special
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assignment they may finally be getting
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some justice it's been frustrating
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we were really blindsided by this do you
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think she should go to jail for this
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there's something bothering this quiet
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North Valley subdivision near Edith and
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Paseo where neighbors say their cries
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for help have gone unanswered for years
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until now Desiree Pepin former president
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of the Las Colinas homeowners
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association is arraigned on felony
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embezzlement and forgery charges more
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than three years after her neighbors
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took their case to Bernalillo County
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sheriff's detectives it's an excellent
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paper trail they have we figured it'd be
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wrapped up pretty quickly so it was
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extra frustrating when they kept
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stringing us along and not doing
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anything according to a complaint as HOA
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president from 2002 to 2014 Pepin
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collected $30 membership dues from
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residents each month
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eventually neighbors say they started
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receiving invoices with added fees there
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was a pattern of this for like about six
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months where we would go from only $30
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to $180 and we didn't know why we don't
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count the same apparently things took a
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turn when longtime resident Thomas
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Tinoco says his bill from Pepin was
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simply outrageous the last statement
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that I got in in 2013 was 492 thousand
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dollars that I owed what was your
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reaction I wasn't going to pay it
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Tinoco says the 92 thousand dollar bill
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came with a threat typed at the bottom
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accounts unpaid will be sent to
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collections or a lien placed on his
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property you can say somebody was
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attempting to scam a senior citizen but
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others who got less outrageous bills did
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pay up they did have a friend whose two
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houses down for me he had gotten a bill
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for $900 and she was threatening that
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they're gonna put a lien on his house so
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he paid it up not knowing when people
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realized
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weren't the only ones with billing
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discrepancies they started asking
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questions neighbors became their own
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investigators an outside management
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company was later hired and when Conrad
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Azula was appointed HOA president in
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2014 he says he finally got access to a
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toy banking statements we saw that the
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ones that she submitted to the
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management company were incomplete and
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what's worse is they were altered checks
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they thought had been wrote for HOA
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expenses doula says were actually
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written to herself like this one showing
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$60 paid to USPS for stamps
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does Allah have the same check number
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from the bank shows the money actually
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went to Desiree Pepin same thing with
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this $95 check one copy shows it's for a
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hired landscaper another shows pepin
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signature it was just a real kick in the
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face every other check was written to
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herself HOA dues are supposed to pay for
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things like landscaping maintenance and
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water bills for common areas the water
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department filed several liens ik
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neighbor's piece together the puzzle and
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compiled binders of documents to show
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investigators but after their assigned
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BCSO detective retired and the case went
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nowhere in court frustrations mounted
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until a couple months ago when district
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attorney Ronald Torres his office
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decided to move the case forward and
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charged Pepin a lot of this is a
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bookkeeping issue frankly in court
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Pepin's attorney also chalked up the
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charges to an ugly neighborhood dispute
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she's certainly no threat to anybody
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after her arraignment Pepin wasn't
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interested in sharing her side with us I
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mean I know you said it was a neighbor
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dispute but we'd love to hear from you
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online court records show this isn't the
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first time Pepin's been in trouble
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records show she was convicted of
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forgery fraud and filing false insurance
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claims in 2003 Plus Pepin was on
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probation ordered to pay restitution to
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insurance companies at the same time she
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was HOA president and in 2014 Pepin a
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hair stylist was taken to court for
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owing fifteen thousand dollars in rent
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on her hair salon that case was
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dismissed after the landlord missed a
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court date while this case winds its way
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through court
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Bevin's neighbors
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want justice it's our community it's the
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neighborhood her neighbors she did this
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to him on special assignment every el
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Burkhart KRQE news 13
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Pepin's criminal case is still
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slow-moving she's supposed to turn
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herself in next week to be booked on the
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charges the HOA is also taking pepin to
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court in a civil case for more than
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$50,000 you can read that complaint
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online and always on
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krqe.com welcome
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