A homeowners association property manager, who hired a former officer and convicted felon to work inside an Osceola County neighborhood, is accused of refusing to turn over bank accounts and other records at a different HOA in Seminole County, 9 Investigates reporter Karla Ray reported.
Ray learned there was a criminal investigation into whether Sherry Raposo stole money from Winter Green at Winter Park HOA's bank account. But Casselberry police closed that case last month due to insufficient evidence of a crime.
The Winter Green at Winter Park HOA is set to go to trial early next year against Raposo. A lawsuit claims she is refusing to turn over HOA bank accounts and other community records.
“It’s been very difficult for the association,” attorney Marlene Kirtland Kirian said. “The association basically had to remake all the account ledgers with all the owners in the association.”
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Raposo’s attorneys claim she is the rightful manager of the records in question. It comes down to when and how a 2017 board election was carried out.
The community claims an election was held on Nov. 12, based on a notice Raposo sent out to homeowners. However, attorneys on her side assert the notice was actually dated for Nov. 15, which would mean the election held on the Nov.12 was illegal.
Ray learned Raposo, who owns property management company Management 35 Firm, has deep connections to former officer Joseph Conover.
Ray confronted Conover last week after neighbors at Turnberry Reserve in Kissimmee told her they were afraid of him because of his prior conviction for assaults and obstruction of justice.
After exposing concerns about Conover’s role in the community, Osceola County pulled the permit that was allowing Management 35 Firm to block off certain streets in the neighborhood around school release time.
Management 35 Firm’s automated phone system refers to Conover as the ‘chief’ and Sherry Raposo as the manager of the company. Raposo was once president of the Turnberry Reserve HOA.
Ray went to the home the two share in Turnberry Reserve to ask Raposo and Conover questions, and though Raposo could be seen through a window at the front door, but she did not answer questions.
A deeper dive into Raposo and Conover’s history shows they served as registered agents of Nova Security, a formerly-licensed security agency under which Conover patrolled apartment complexes in Orange and Seminole Counties. Sheriff’s Office reports obtained by 9 Investigates show multiple incidents of Conover using mace and his Taser on people in Florida in the late 2000s.
He never got in trouble for use of force in Florida, but in North Carolina, he was convicted in 2017 on charges of obstruction and assault after being accused of improperly using a Taser and arresting people as a law enforcement officer under the state’s company police program.
That conviction is part of the reason why Conover should not have been a security officer in Florida.
The State Department of Agriculture’s criminal division is looking into the situation at Turnberry.
Rep. Mike La Rosa has also asked investigators to keep him informed about the findings.
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