In the arrest warrant, Mutchnik is alleged to have forged signatures on seven bills of sale and titles for homes in Galway Bay community, said the Florida Key News. The “purposely botched the sale amounts and as a result paid less in sales tax to the state — about $16,000 less,” said their report.
In July 2015, George Amerman bought a home in the Galway Bay for $28,000. Per the warrant, Elaine Law-Rose, manager of Galway Bay, told Amerman to write an additional check for $1,900 to cover title transfer fees and taxes, leave the payee line blank and Mutchnik would take care of the rest.
State investigators found Mutchnik recorded the sale for only $500, paid $75 in sales tax, $73.50 for the title fee – pocketing the difference from Amerman’s check.
Mutchnik allegedly did this twice to Amerman on two different sales, netting some $5,000.
The same scenario happened with five other, per the warrant. The total Mutchnik is alleged to have defrauded others is $15,291 of the $19,380 in checks.
Mutchnik pleaded not guilty to felony charges of criminal mischief, grand theft over $20,000 and filing of false documents against real or personal property in January at the Marathon courthouse for his first arrest of the year, Jan. 11.
Investigators also claim he unlawfully damaged and ransacked a trailer owned by Andrew Garshott in the weeks following Hurricane Irma in an effort to render the dwelling unlivable in the eyes of city officials, reported in Charlotte Observer, demonstrating that the report had gone well beyond the local region.
It’s a tragic case of thousands of good community operators – and the industry at large – potentially being tainted by the alleged bad behavior of one.
Mutchnik is also being sued by the Galway Bay homeowners association, as members of claim their site fees have gone up 48 percent in the last three years. ##
## (News, analysis, and commentary.)
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