SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — Two leaders of an HOA in the city of South Fulton are facing criminal charges.
They’re accused of receiving insurance money -- close to $2 million -- after some buildings caught fire.
Instead of cutting checks to fire victims, police say they kept the money.
Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes learned on Friday that these arrests could be part of something much bigger.
Police said they went through bank records and phone records that prove Bettye Ligon and Lyndon Baldwin Sr. stole money.
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“One of the things we’re looking for is additional victims to come forward and help us facilitate the investigation even further,” City of South Fulton Police Chief Keith Meadows said.
Meadows said 24 units at the Camelot Condominium complex were destroyed by two fires in 2020.
He said an insurance company gave the Camelot Homeowners’ Association nearly $2 million to rebuild.
But he said only six of the 24 condo owners got their money.
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That’s why the HOA president, Ligon, and HOA treasurer, Baldwin, are facing charges. Baldwin hasn’t turned himself in yet.
Both are charged with theft by taking and theft by conversion for allegedly keeping money that was supposed to go to people who lost everything in the fires.
“They took my money. It’s still going on. I understand there’s another check coming. I hope they don’t take that,” one of the fire victims told Fernandes, asking not to be identified.
She went on to say the corruption goes deeper than the two board members now facing charges.
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“How is it that some people could receive money and some of them weren’t paying every month? And I was paying every month and never received anything,” the woman said.
Condia Perry has been talking about HOA board members stealing money since Fernandes met her in 2020.
She said it’s time to hold people accountable and get a whole new set of HOA board members.
“My hope is that they go ahead and issue those warrants because they have more than enough information,” Perry said.
Meadows says the two arrests are just the tip of the iceberg and more are coming.
Fire investigators are also looking into whether the 2020 fires were actually arson.
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