Colorado homeowners claim HOA management company that stole hundreds of thousands of dollars is connected to a new group
More than $2 million is how much a Colorado judge ordered Mastino Management and owner Kim Bacon to pay to an HOA that she was responsible for operating.
"We started digging around right around as soon as all this all came to light," Craig Haynes, a former resident, said.
Court records show that last spring, a judge determined that from 2018 to 2020, Bacon intentionally diverted nearly $700,000, which were mostly homeowner fees from Traditions HOA.
They were fees that were paid through an online portal and went directly into her bank account.
Those court records go on to say that Bacon used the money to buy personal items, like a Louis Vuitton designer bag, a luxury Lincoln SUV, pay her own mortgage, and more.
"It just kept getting worse and worse and worse," Haynes said.
"When I found that out, I told everybody"
During that same time, Mastino was also managing the HOA for the Shadow Creek community in Aurora.
That's where Haynes and Dave Wells, another resident, met.
Haynes has since moved away.
CBS News Colorado reporter Karen Morfitt asked Haynes, "why did you sell your home?"
"We sold our home just from- honestly, from the HOA mess," he said.
Both men say that, over the years, they have reported numerous issues, many related to their online pay portal, payments being lost, and not being applied correctly or quickly. Other residents who spoke with CBS Colorado off camera said that money was sometimes taken from their accounts without authorization, though refunded if it was caught.
"I no longer deal with their portal," Wells said.
Last spring, homeowners were issued a nearly $2,000 assessment for an insurance premium increase just days before payment was due. They say they asked their HOA board members and Mastino Management for financial records, but got little to no response. After neighbors looked deeper, they found that Mastino court case.
"When I found that out, I told everybody. I told them the details," Haynes said.
New boss, same as the old boss?
By summer of 2024, homeowners say they were calling for a new management company and in November of last year, their HOA board president sent out an email saying they were moving to a new company, CCMA.
"I did speak to someone on the board. Asked if the Bacons were involved with CCMA and they told me it's a clean fresh start, we are moving on, and we are going forward," Wells said.
But business records filed with the Colorado Secretary of State's office show Kim Bacon and her husband started CCMA in 2023 before their case with Mastino Management went to court and before declaring bankruptcy last fall.
No records have been filed removing their names.
Their registered agent, "United States Corporation Agents, INC" is part of a company that sells privacy to business owners.
Haynes asked the HOA board who was behind CCMA.
"She would not respond and finally I sent an email that -- to the effect of, 'hey, your silence makes me think that you are trying to hide something,'" Haynes said.
"I am very upset," Wells said. "I love this home. I love the neighborhood."
No comment, no enforcement
CBS News Colorado went to every address listed for the company's registered agent here in Colorado and found no one who represented CCMA.
In January, residents learned of a new office location. After calls and emails for comment from CCMA went unanswered, CBS Colorado stopped by that new location.
"We've been asking for comments for several days, just wanting to ask some questions about concerns some residents have and wanted to see if we could contact the owners," Morfitt asked the woman at the door.
"No, unfortunately not at this time," she said.
"Why is that?" Morfitt asked.
"Because it's an investment group," she responded before shutting the door.
CCMA is now under order from a bankruptcy court, which filed a subpoena to reveal information about the company's ownership as of Jan. 27. CCMA has until next week to respond to that subpoena, court records show.
"HOA boards, management companies, they have no accountability. They can go out and flagrantly violate state law and their governing documents and there's no accountability. This costs HOAs and homeowners tens of millions of dollars," Stan Hrincevich, president of the Colorado HOA Forum, said.
The Colorado HOA Forum is the state's largest and longest-running HOA homeowner advocacy group.
Hrincevich says that, while the state does have an HOA resource center where complaints can be made, there's no enforcement.
In fact, it says it right on the state website "succinctly speaking, there is no regulatory oversight of HOA's or community association managers in the state of Colorado."
Seeking transparency and accountability
Hrincevich continues to push legislation that would change that.
"All we want to do is expand the authority of the HOA office to include investigation and rendering decisions," he said.
For Shadow Creek neighbors, the need for better information is more pressing than ever.
Homeowners say in December they were asked to pay a $35,000 special assessment for roof replacement, first discovered when Haynes tried to sell his home.
"We weren't planning on taking $35,000 out of a retirement account to do this and so it's sitting in escrow right now, but we are not paying it because we are not getting the right documentation to do this," he said.
The total claim amount amounts to roughly $2.5 million.
"We are completely held in the dark, we don't know where the money is, we don't how much is there," Wells said.
A correction was issued shortly after that special assessment went out, correcting the amount to around $31,000.
Residents say that since CBS Colorado started asking questions, their online portal now includes financial records from a portion of last year and governing documents, and they were told a CPA was secured to perform an audit, but only for last year's expenses.
The most recent notice to the Shadow Creek community no longer includes Kim Bacon as a community manager but has been replaced by her daughter.
CBS Colorado made numerous attempts to reach Kim Bacon as well as the HOA board president, and mailed every board member for comment and received no response.
In a cease-and-desist letter sent to CBS Colorado, CCMA did provide the following information saying, "The ownership of CCMA does not impact the services provided to our clients, and CCMA was hired by the Board of Directors after presenting a proposal for consideration. If Residents have taken issue with the Board's decision, then they can bring up their concerns to the board in accordance with their governing documents."
