A former Fairfax City property manager will serve two years in prison for embezzling money from the 70-plus homeowners’ associations she served.
Rose Kasande Bailey, a 60-year-old Warrenton resident, was sentenced to two years in prison yesterday (Tuesday) after pleading guilty in August to wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia announced.
According to court documents, Bailey established the property management company Rosewood Management and Consulting Services in April 2012, listing herself as the managing member of the limited liability company.
Based in an office on Jermantown Road in Fairfax City, Rosewood contracted with homeowners’ associations that entrusted it with collecting member dues from residents, paying contractors, handling property repairs and maintenance, bookkeeping and contracting utilities and other services.
By March 2023, the company provided services to over 70 HOAs in Virginia, including neighborhoods in Reston, Lorton, Falls Church and Leesburg, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The Generation Cluster in Reston, for example, announced in March 2021 that it had secured Rosewood as its new community management company.
Between May 22, 2018 and February 2023, Bailey “knowingly devised” a scheme to defraud the HOAs by transferring over $1.1 million from their bank accounts to ones created for Rosewood without approval by the association boards, which were required to approve any disbursment of funds over $1,000, prosecutors said in a statement of facts.
When the HOAs requested updates on their accounts, Bailey gave them “altered” bank statements to conceal the transfers, per the statement. At one point, when an HOA decided to get new management, she moved $600,000 to its account from other HOAs to make up the missing amount.
“The illicit transfers … were used to cover Rosewood payroll and business rent expenses, credit card payments, Bailey’s personal expenses, and payments on business loans associated with Bailey acquiring a new HOA management firm,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release.
Affected HOAs included a neighborhood in Lorton, Old Town Court and Hearthside at Flynn’s Crossing in Ashburn, which all submitted victim impact statements, according to court documents.
(Correction: The Lorton Station Community Association was previously listed as one of the affected HOAs, but its current president says it wasn’t connected to this fraud case. FFXnow apologizes for the error.)
Bailey pleaded guilty on Aug. 30 to wire fraud, a charge that typically carries a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison.
While federal prosecutors argued for a three-year prison sentence, describing Bailey’s actions as a breach of trust, a public defender representing Bailey had urged U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema to sentence her to probation instead of incarceration, stating that she has admitted responsibility and committed to repaying the HOAs.
“There is no risk that Ms. Bailey will do anything like this again as the consequences have shattered every aspect of her life,” federal public defender Geremy Kamens wrote in a statement outlining the defense’s sentencing position. “A felony conviction, probation, and monetary penalties will provide significant punishment and best promote the goal of maximizing restitution to the victims.”
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Simon Jr., and the sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber and David Geist, the acting special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division.
