The Brief
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The owner of a Pasco County property management company is accused of defrauding dozens of clients who owned properties in the area.
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He was charged with scheme to defraud over $100,000 and grand theft of escrow funds.
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Police believe there may be more victims out there.
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. – The owner of a property management company has been arrested and is accused of defrauding dozens of clients who owned properties around Pasco County.
The New Port Richey Police Department arrested Michael Bundy, 63, on Wednesday.
Behind Sunista Realty
The backstory
Sunista Realty is a property management company that operates out of Pasco County, and according to its website, Bundy is the broker and owner. Detectives with the NPRPD said they were contacted in September by a property owner who was a client of Sunista Realty.
“They weren’t getting any disbursement checks or escrow monies back from security deposits,” NPRPD Detective Corporal Joe Ioppolo said.
Police said Sunista Realty acted as the middleman between the property owner and the tenants.
“There’s an operating account, which should take the monthly fees and disperse back to the property owners,” Ioppolo said. “And then, there’s a separate escrow account, which should not be touched. It’s for first/last security. When the tenant moves out, the property owners will get the money back and then, they’ll disburse it to the tenants that moved out, or they’ll take it back for repairs and stuff like that. But that money should not be touched.”
What they’re saying
According to an affidavit, that property owner got an email from Sunista Realty in September about a significant change in business operations because of the owner’s personal health issues. The email allegedly said that Sunista Realty would cease operations.
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However, detectives said the property owner’s accounts were empty.
The affidavit said the clients reached out to staff with Sunista Realty when they first saw their accounts had been depleted, but a staff member had no knowledge of the depleted escrow accounts.
“There were 230 different clients Sunista managed properties for,” Ioppolo said. “This client, in particular, owned 57. So, he was out probably close to $80,000.”
Police said they started getting calls from other property owners who were clients of Sunista Realty and hadn’t been getting payments for months.
“Given the same story. That July or August, they haven’t been getting anything since,” Ioppolo said. “They’d been getting emails from Mr. Bundy, saying he will pay them. Just kind of stringing them along.”
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Ioppolo said some of Sunista Realty’s clients lived in Florida, but some lived as far away as California, Canada and Germany.
“Some owned a couple properties, some owned dozens of properties,” he said.
Detectives said there were also instances where clients were billed for repairs, but the vendors who did the work were never paid.
“And, vendors are coming forward too, to say they’ve done work,” Ioppolo said. “The clients have gotten billed, they haven’t gotten paid.”
Who is Michael Bundy?
Dig deeper
Police believe Bundy was draining these accounts. Ioppolo said Bundy was caught on surveillance making transactions at a bank, and that evidence shows he was the one withdrawing money from the clients’ accounts.
In the affidavit, detectives said they eventually got in touch with an ex-office manager who confirmed that Bundy had depleted the accounts and closed the business.
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“Just from the people that came forward, there’s about 40 victims, or 40 property owners, that are in that same boat.”
By the numbers
Ioppolo said there’s a total of close to $400,000 that’s been stolen from clients at this point, but he believes there’s more money missing. Police believe there’s a total of about $1.5 million that’s been stolen, but detectives don’t know where any of that money currently is.
Bundy is charged with scheme to defraud over $100,000 and grand theft of escrow funds. He received a total bond of $80,000.
The other side
FOX 13 has reached out to Bundy’s office and is waiting to hear back.
What you can do
Police believe there are more victims out there. If you believe you might be a victim in this case, contact the New Port Richey Police Department at (727) 841-4550.
The Source
The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13’s Kylie Jones, who interviewed the New Port Richey Police Department and read through Bundy’s arrest affidavit.
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