‘This is not right’: Albuquerque police investigating HOA president’s paychecks
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Members of an Albuquerque homeowners association are now paying much closer attention to what the association is doing with their money, and they want other HOA members to learn from their experience.
Fed up with how their neighborhood looked, a few members asked to look at their association’s finances; they wanted to know what their monthly dues were going toward. Their HOA is now under new leadership, as the Albuquerque Police Department investigates suspected mishandling of finances.
KRQE Investigates
“These are all the boxes that we acquired when we became the, well, actually, I became the interim president,” Jocelynn Reichbach said. She showed KRQE Investigates several disheveled boxes of documents given to her by the former president of her HOA.
KRQE is not naming the HOA or the former president to protect her identity. At this point, she has not been charged with a crime.
“It’s $600 even for every single one. So, there wasn’t even a time that she missed on a monthly basis,” Reichbach said while sifting through a handful of check receipts. The receipts show $600 paid directly to the former HOA president each month, signed by the former HOA president herself.
“And it says $10 per home. So, I was like, ‘What does that mean?’” Reichbach added. “You were not aware of that?” Investigative Reporter Ann Pierret asked. “No, I was not. None of us were aware of that.” Reichbach said.
Reichbach explained that members pay $50 per month as part of the HOA. And, according to multiple association expense reports, bank statements, and check receipts, which go back to 2009, the former president was paying herself $10 per home each month from everyone’s dues but her own. That’s about $7,200 per year, or 20% of the HOA’s annual income. Neighbors wanted to know where that money went; the checks said “maintenance.”
While sorting through the HOA’s many years of records, Reichbach never found any documentation stating that the president of the nonprofit could pay herself a monthly salary. “So, we haven’t found anything like that. And I, we’ve asked neighbors and nothing to back that piece up,” she added.
In addition, the HOA’s bylaws state that neighbors have to approve any payments with a vote. “It doesn’t specifically state any, like, salary or hourly wage in there. It kind of just says, like, if, you know, like, you can get reimbursed for expenses,” Reichbach said. However, that was never voted on because the HOA didn’t have a meeting, at least not since Reichbach moved into the gated community in 2019. Luis Oaxaca, who purchased his home in 2012 said the same thing. “Never done any meetings,” said Oaxaca.
That means the association has never held elections either, and the former president held the position, the two neighbors said, since she was first elected in 2003.
“I mean, your own people. You’re taking money away from them,” Oaxaca said. “This is not right.” He was one of the neighbors who attended a few meetings in June to talk about moving forward. Around that same time, Oaxaca said the members received a resignation letter from the former longtime president.
After the neighbors’ discoveries about the finances, the former president did not show up to the HOA’s meetings, but her husband did. Oaxaca shared, “He wanted to talk and to excuse himself and his wife. And I said, ‘I’m not going to let that happen here in front of all these people.’”
Oaxaca started recording a video when the meeting got heated, with the husband telling members that some people knew about the payments. “They’re not here today because, um, they just haven’t. But in all honesty, we felt that the amount of work that we were putting into that, uh, the time and effort, we were putting 40 to 50 hours a month into it by filing liens against people who don’t pay their dues on time, by dealing with the courts and the lawyers, by going to the city back and forth,” the husband said in the video.
“But to be fair. If you are paying yourself, that should be sent to everyone without people asking. I think that is fair,” a neighbor told the husband. He responded, “Agreed and we never updated that. But there were people who knew.” Someone started to interrupt him, and he added, “I’m admitting the mistakes were made.”
“Mistakes” is not a strong enough word for Reichbach. She believes the former president committed a crime, so Reichbach filed a police report. Albuquerque police’s Organized Crime Unit is investigating.
She also called the New Mexico Department of Justice and the Secretary of State, thinking they would help her hold the former president accountable. But she quickly learned there is no department in any local or state government office that oversees HOAs.
The members’ only other recourse is paying for an attorney to sue. “I was just like, wow, you know, like, there’s, like, nobody who enforces anything about HOA. So, you know, what I mean? It’s, like, basically a person can just get away with doing a lot of stuff if nobody’s paying attention,” Reichbach said.
She and Oaxaca never expected to deal with anything like this. “I know there’s a lot of HOAs in Albuquerque. They might be suffering,” Oaxaca said. “And it’s just the people that can stand up and fight for their rights, because a lot of people is taking advantage, like these people.” Reichbach added, “How did someone, like, steal from other people for, like, years on end and feel okay about it?”
KRQE Investigative Reporter Ann Pierret tried to reach the former president by phone. She never returned the call. Pierret did connect with her husband who said he would have his attorney call her. He added, “We have nothing to hide.” However, no one has reached out. The couple’s house is now up for sale. Neighbors said they watched them pack up their home in early August.
Some homeowner associations hire a manager to oversee the association’s finances and hold the HOA to its bylaws. Reichbach said the neighborhood looked into this option, but decided it is too expensive for now.
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