Property manager Michael Sisson accused of stealing $180K from HOAs

A Chamblee property management company owner is facing charges he stole tens of thousands of dollars from homeowner’s associations.

So far, police in Dunwoody and Chamblee tell reporters they’ve filed charges against Michael Sisson, and they say more charges are possible.

Darwin Johnson said his Midtown condo association hired Sisson a few years ago to manage their property near Piedmont Park.

”His primary responsibility was to take care of the building, respond to resident conces, pay vendors, grounds keeping, Johnson told Petchenik. ”You write your check every month, you trust that the building’s going to be taken care of, vendors are going to be paid.

Johnson said about six months ago Sisson stopped retuing resident’s phone calls and completing his work, so the HOA fired him and asked for control of their funds.

”We sent certified letters, requests, phone calls, e-mails to tu over our money, and at that stage of the game, when nothing happened, we realized there might be a problem, he said.

Johnson said the HOA sued Sisson for access to the records, and it wasn’t until then that they realized about $50,000 in HOA dues were missing.

”It’s unfortunate, because property managers are in the business of trust, Johnson said. ”Frankly, I think he took advantage of that trust. That’s unfortunate.

Because Sisson’s company is based in Chamblee, police there said they’ve charged him with the theft from Johnson’s association. 

Captain Eesto Ford told Petchenik, Sisson is facing four counts of theft by taking, one count of theft by conversion, and more charges are pending.

He must tu himself into the DeKalb County Jail by Thursday moing, Ford said.

Last month, Dunwoody police filed similar charges against Sisson after they said they uncovered evidence he stole $130,000 from a townhome community off Ashford-Dunwoody Road.

”It took some detailed work, some great work by our detectives and analysts, but we found there were some major discrepancies in the account, said Officer Tim Fecht of the Dunwoody Police Department. 

Fecht said the investigation is on-going because Sisson worked with many homeowners’ associations.

”I believe there are up to 12 additional homeowner’s associations that Mr. Sisson was in charge of and we are working with the city of Atlanta, Chamblee and some other cities to help with the investigation to see if there was any additional theft conducted, he said.

Petchenik called Sisson’s criminal defense attoey for comment, but did not hear back.