KEY LARGO, Fla. – Deputies in the Florida Keys are accusing a pair of forging signatures on, then notarizing, several Monroe County building permits while working for a luxury homebuilder doing business at the exclusive Ocean Reef Club on Key Largo.
Both defendants are being sued by their former employer, West Palm Beach-based Woolems, Inc., in South Florida courts.
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Deputies with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office arrested the company’s former chief operating officer, Gavin Joseph Guinan, on Monday, and its former regional director, Shelley Ann Saunders, a notary public, last Wednesday.
According to the lawsuits and an MCSO arrest warrant, during a period from 2020 to 2022, Guinan, 56, was put in charge of the company while the company’s founder, James Woolems, was recovering from an illness.
During that time, deputies said Guinan forged Woolems’ signature, without authorization, on more than a dozen Monroe County building permits, which Saunders, 56, then notarized.
Saunders said she was following standard practice at the company, established before she began working there, and felt she “was doing nothing wrong,” MCSO Detective Ian Barnett wrote in the warrant.
Saunders was fired in August 2022 after the fraud was discovered; Guinan had resigned in May of that year “after being confronted and asked questions about many of his acts taken during his tenure,” the lawsuits state.
Woolems, Inc. sued Guinan and a number of others in Palm Beach County court in August 2022 and sued Saunders — and her consulting firm — in Monroe County court that November.
The lawsuit accuses Saunders of using Woolems’ name and license for permit applications, then, once approved, transfer the projects to another contractor or perform the work under 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 suit alleges.
The lawsuits also allege, in addition to the permit fraud claims, that Guinan leased an office for Saunders at the Ocean Reef Club “for no legitimate purpose.”
The Monroe County suit alleges that Saunders operated her own consulting business out of that space and used Woolems’ resources for her own venture without authorization.
According to state records, Saunders’ notary license is currently suspended as of Monday.
The lawsuit alleges that Saunders continued to try to notarize documents and interfere with ongoing Woolems projects, despite the suspension.
Guinan, of Boynton Beach, faces 14 counts of forging a public document, while Saunders, of Key Largo, faces 14 counts of notary fraud. Each count is a third-degree felony under Florida law, punishable by up to five years in prison.
Local 10 News contacted attorneys listed for Guinan and Saunders seeking comment on 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 attorney, Matthew Hutchinson, told Local 10 News. “She maintains that she is innocent of the charges.”
Guinan’s attorney had not yet responded as of publication of this article.
Both lawsuits continue to make their way through the court system. A hearing in Saunders’ case in scheduled for Jan. 4.
Guinan lawsuit:
Saunders lawsuit and response: