CALABASAS : Search Fails to Find Condo Assn.’s Money

Law enforcement officials say they aren’t optimistic about recovering $1.4 million the manager of a Calabasas condominium allegedly embezzled from the condominium owners association.

An investigation by Los Angeles police has failed to turn up any of the money allegedly stolen by Spencer John Gobus, 46, of Westwood, said Allan Fork, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney who is handling the case.

“It would be fair to say the LAPD has attempted to locate the money and they have not seized anything,” Fork said. “From that, one would conclude that it is used up, spent.”

A lawyer for Gobus did not return phone calls seeking comment on the investigation.

Gobus was arraigned last Thursday on charges of embezzling the money between Feb. 1, 1985 and July 31, 1993, when he operated a Westwood real estate management company. The company was hired by the Oak Park condominium association to manage the 268-unit complex on Park Granada Boulevard in Calabasas.

Gobus pleaded not guilty to the charges and, according to Fork, has been in jail on $1.4-million bail since his arrest. He faces up to six years in jail if convicted. A preliminary hearing has been set for this coming Tuesday.

Fork said the Los Angeles Police Department brought the case to his attention in April. The homeowners association, he said, became suspicious after Gobus failed to give it satisfactory answers to questions about the association’s financial matters.

Prosecutors allege that Gobus diverted money from the association’s bank accounts to his own account.

They also contend that he forged the signature of an association board member on a check. Fork said Gobus altered another check made out to him for his own services, writing in a higher figure.

Ronald Stone, a certified public accountant hired by the association last year to review its finances, said he discovered Gobus had not filed tax returns for the association for 10 years. Gobus had also opened several checking accounts without the association’s knowledge, Stone said. He added that the association’s board of directors at the time paid little attention to finances.

Stone said his investigation into the association’s financial records seems to indicate that Gobus spent most of the $1.4 million he allegedly embezzled on “personal expenses.”

The condominium owners have been hard-pressed to maintain the complex since Gobus left his job in June, 1993, Stone said. At the time, the association had just $31,000 left in reserve.