Nearly five years after residents of San Mateo’s Woodlake condominium homeowners’ association were tipped off about an embezzlement scheme in which some $2.8 million was stolen, one of the two co-conspirators accused of the crime was convicted Friday of felony embezzlement and felony grand theft, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
After 11 days of trial and some five hours of deliberation, a jury found Michael Anthony Medeiros, 61, guilty of the two felony counts, for which he faces a sentence of eight years, eight months in state prison. He was immediately remanded into custody on no bail, according to prosecutors.
Though Medeiros would have been on trial with former HOA manager Susan Marie Lambert, their cases, which involved embezzlement charges against 67-year-old Lambert, were separated when she took a plea deal in September of 2016 in which she faces a maximum sentence of three years, four months state prison, according to prosecutors.
After a nearly two-year investigation, Lambert was taken into custody in September of 2015 on accusations she worked with Medeiros to use false invoices to siphon funds from the 990-unit Woodlake condominium complex at Peninsula Avenue and Delaware Street.
Lambert had managed the association, which had a nearly $5 million annual budget, for more than a decade. A Woodlake resident previously said homeowners caught wind of the theft when a board member saw suspicious activity, including charges at various casinos, on a bank statement from a debit card Lambert had been issued.
After Lambert was fired, the association uncovered a stack of nearly 150 false invoices for construction work that was never completed. Police and investigators determined she had been conspiring to defraud the homeowners between Feb. 8, 2007, and September 2013, according to prosecutors.
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Prosecutors said Lambert, who reportedly had a gambling problem, would make false invoices and write checks to Medeiros’ company Professional Painting, Inc. He would then allegedly cash the checks and the two would split the profits.
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe was pleased with the outcome of the trial, noting he was glad Medeiros did not evade a prison term.
“Now he sits in our county jail where thieves taking this much belong,” he said. “This was just pure greed by both of them.”
Lambert was released from jail to await sentencing shortly after she took her plea deal. The judge who ruled in favor of her release indicated she wanted to wait to sentence Lambert until Medeiros completes his jury trial, so she will next appear in court June 21 for sentencing while Medeiros is set to be sentenced the next day, according to prosecutors.
Calls to Medeiros’ and Lambert’s defense attorneys were not immediately returned.
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