HOA property scammer gets jail time




Daphne Ann Brenon, 53, a property manager working for a Westlake Village property management firm, was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for stealing funds from two area homeowner associations.

From 1998 to 2004, Brenon worked as the property manager for the Spanish Hills Homeowners Association in Camarillo.

Following an investigation by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and the California Franchise Tax Board, Brenon was arrested for stealing more than $400,000 from the HOA. According to the Ventura County District Attorney’s office, she set up a scheme that allowed unauthorized checks to be written to her and her employer, Dahl Davis Inc.

Ventura County Superior Court records show the first violation date was Jan. 11, 2000 and that Brenon was charged with seven felony offenses including failing to report the unauthorized income on her taxes. Brenon pleaded guilty to two counts of grand theft, one count of filing a false tax return and admitted to stealing more than $150,000. She was fined $915,000. The HOA did not ask for restitution.

Brenon also conspired to have checks from the Spanish Hills association and from the Westlake Canyon Oaks Homeowners Association written to a friend whom she falsely claimed to be a contractor, senior Deputy District Attorney Howard Wise said.

Reynaldo Bernabe was Brenon’s co-defendant in the scheme to write the unauthorized checks to Brenon’s friend.

In June 2007, Bernabe pleaded guilty and received one year in jail and five years felony probation.


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