Glenmore group thinks treasurer absconded with $666,446

An audit of the Glenmore Community Association’s finances has discovered nearly $700,000 missing from the operating and reserve accounts of the luxury neighborhood’s homeowners association.

The missing funds are the latest twist in the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Michael Comer, who was treasurer of the homeowners association and president of the Glenmore Country Club.
Comer, 45, did not show up for a meeting on the morning of July 1 to discuss a financial audit of the association’s finances for 2008. After Comer was reported missing, the audit by Robinson, Farmer, Cox Associates was expanded to include the first half of 2009, as well as balance sheets and transactions from the previous three years.

The audit’s results, released Monday, revealed that a total of $666,446 was missing from the association’s accounts, “due to apparently unauthorized activity by Mr. Comer over the last four years,” according to a news release sent out Monday evening by Glenmore Community Association President Trevor Joscelyne.
Joscelyne said it appears that Comer was writing and signing checks out of the community association’s accounts and making them payable to Glenmore Associates, which owns the country club and surrounding property. Comer was a senior official with Glen-more Associates.

“Unauthorized checks were issued from the association to Glen-more Associates, and incoming payments from Glenmore Country Club were recorded, but not in fact received,” the release said. “The cash-flow statements and balance sheets issued each month by Mr. Comer showed no record of these transfers, which were discovered during the auditor’s detailed examination of the association’s bank account statements. It appears that Mr. Comer acted alone in these matters, without the knowledge of any other individuals within the Country Club, Glenmore Associates, or the GCA.”
The community association represents more than 700 homeowners and has a budget of $732,000 for 2009. As of May 31, the organization reported $983,000 in assets.
Association members are scheduled to discuss the missing money today with a detective from the Albemarle County Police Department and officials with the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.

“We simply want to make sure that, as they’re investigating his disappearance, they have all the information that they need,” Joscelyne said.
Comer’s disappearance triggered a massive manhunt in the wooded acres and trails around Nelson County’s Wintergreen Resort, where Comer owns a vacation home. Comer’s car was found at the house, its doors unlocked and his cell phone and keys inside.
A day after the search began, authorities called off the hunt. Nelson County Sheriff David Brooks has suggested that Comer may not want to be found. Foul play is not suspected, he said.
Brooks said Monday evening that his office is still treating Comer’s disappearance as a missing person case. “On my end, we still just have a missing person,” he said. “If there was a crime committed in Albemarle Coun-ty, that would be in the jurisdiction of the Albemarle County police.”

As of Monday, Brooks knew of no criminal investigation in connection with Comer’s disappearance.
Despite its losses, the Glen-more Community Association has sufficient funds to continue ongoing operations and maintenance, as well as payment of all bills, Joscelyne said.
Jeff Gaffney, Comer’s brother-in-law and a top official with Glenmore Associates, said the company would pay full restitution to the Glenmore Community Association.

“We’ve committed to working together with the community association and we’ve committed to making them whole as quickly as possible,” he said. “It’s a problem. We’ve identified the problem. And now we’re working to correct the problem.”
The community association is not pushing for a criminal investigation, Joscelyne said. Its members simply want their money back.
“Mike Comer was a well-liked and trusted member of the board for 15 years, acting as a representative of the developer, and we are all dismayed by current events,” the association’s statement said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”