KEY LARGO, Fla. – Deputies in the Florida Keys are accusing a pair of forging signatures on, then notarizing, a number of Monroe County building allows whilst running for a luxurious homebuilder doing industry on the unique Ocean Reef Club on Key Largo.
Both defendants are being sued by way of their former employer, West Palm Beach-based Woolems, Inc., in South Florida courts.
Deputies with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office arrested the corporate’s former leader running officer, Gavin Joseph Guinan, on Monday, and its former regional director, Shelley Ann Saunders, a notary public, ultimate Wednesday.
(*14*) to the proceedings and an MCSO arrest warrant, all the way through a length from 2020 to 2022, Guinan, 56, was once put in rate of the corporate whilst the corporate’s founder, James Woolems, was once getting better from an sickness.
During that point, deputies mentioned Guinan forged Woolems’ signature, with out authorization, on greater than a dozen Monroe County building allows, which Saunders, 56, then notarized.
Saunders mentioned she was once following usual observe on the corporate, established prior to she started running there, and felt she “was doing nothing wrong,” MCSO Detective Ian Barnett wrote in the warrant.
Saunders was once fired in August 2022 after the fraud was once found out; Guinan had resigned in May of that yr “after being confronted and asked questions about many of his acts taken during his tenure,” the proceedings state.
Woolems, Inc. sued Guinan and plenty of others in Palm Beach County court docket in August 2022 and sued Saunders — and her consulting company — in Monroe County court docket that November.
The lawsuit accuses Saunders of the usage of Woolems’ identify and license for permit programs, then, as soon as authorized, switch the tasks to every other contractor or carry out the paintings below Woolems’ license.
“Given Saunders’ failure to obtain Mr. Woolems’ consent and active efforts to conceal the application for a permit, it appears these efforts were done at Woolems’ expense and for Saunders’ personal benefit.,” the go well with alleges.
The proceedings additionally allege, in addition to the permit fraud claims, that Guinan leased an administrative center for Saunders on the Ocean Reef Club “for no legitimate purpose.”
The Monroe County go well with alleges that Saunders operated her personal consulting industry out of that area and used Woolems’ assets for her personal undertaking with out authorization.
(*14*) to state information, Saunders’ notary license is lately suspended as of Monday.
The lawsuit alleges that Saunders persevered to check out to notarize paperwork and intervene with ongoing Woolems tasks, regardless of the suspension.
Guinan, of Boynton Beach, faces 14 counts of forging a public report, whilst Saunders, of Key Largo, faces 14 counts of notary fraud. Each rely is a third-degree prison below Florida legislation, punishable by way of as much as 5 years in jail.
Local 10 News contacted legal professionals indexed for Guinan and Saunders in the hunt for touch upon their behalf.
“(Saunders’) arrest and the charges were an unfortunate development in what, to date, has been a contentious civil case with her former employer,” her Tavernier-based legal professional, Matthew Hutchinson, instructed Local 10 News. “She maintains that she is innocent of the charges.”
Guinan’s legal professional had no longer but answered as of e-newsletter of this text.
Both proceedings proceed to make their method during the court docket gadget. A listening to in Saunders’ case in scheduled for Jan. 4.
Guinan lawsuit:
Saunders lawsuit and reaction:
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