Theresa Tierney, 60, of the Oakhurst section of Ocean Township, pleaded guilty on Dec. 15 to embezzling more than $400,000 from the Strickland Farms Homeowners Association, Monmouth County Prosecutor Peter E. Warshaw Jr. announced.
The plea was entered before Superior Court Judge Richard W. English, sitting in Freehold. English is scheduled to sentence Tierney on April 13.
Strickland Farms is a condominium development on Strickland Road, Freehold Township.
An investigation conducted by theMonmouth County Prosecutor’s Office revealed that in 2003, Tierney fraudulently opened a bank account in the name of Strickland Farms.
After making herself the sole signatory on the account, Tierney made substantial deposits of condominium association dues that she collected from the Strickland Farms homeowners in her capacity as the Strickland Farms property manager.
Rather than turning the money over to the Solomon Organization, the management company for Strickland Farms, Tierney converted the funds to her own use, according to the prosecutor’s office. Tierney’s crimes came to light in early 2010 when her conduct in diverting the funds led the Solomon Organization to notify several association members of their delinquency in payment of dues.
Many of the affected homeowners complained to the Solomon Organization, appropriately claiming they were current with their payments.
This discrepancy led the Solomon Organization to seek the assistance of law enforcement, which resulted in the subsequent discovery of Tierney’s theft and ultimately her arrest on these charges on April 21, 2011. On that date, Tierney was released from the Monmouth County jail after posting bail in the amount of $100,000.
Tierney pleaded guilty to second-degree theft by failure to make required disposition of property pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement.
Pursuant to the terms of Tierney’s plea agreement, the prosecutor’s office will recommend that English sentence Tierney to a state prison term of seven years. The plea agreement also calls for Tierney to make full restitution, according to the information provided by the prosecutor’s office.