KEY LARGO, Fla. – A former homeowners association bookkeeper spent nearly $34,000 of residents’ money on various personal expenses — ranging from bath bombs, bras and toilet paper to hotels and gynecologist visits — over a two-year span, deputies say. Now, she’s facing dozens of felony charges in the Florida Keys.
Local 10 News obtained the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office arrest warrant for Peggy Anne West on Thursday. Authorities arrested her in Orlando on Monday and the 59-year-old is set to be extradited back to the Keys.
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West was the bookkeeper for the 55+ Silver Shores mobile home community on Key Largo, deputies said.
According to the warrant, the investigation into West began in May 2022, when the HOA treasury manager and president discovered the unauthorized transactions on one of its bank accounts.
Those charges, they said, came from a Visa card issued to another employee, who was initially misidentified as the suspect.
According to the warrant, the HOA’s policy was to only spend $500 on the card, which was meant to be used on office and project supplies, rather than “multiple gynecologist visits,” hotels in Miami and Orlando and Amazon purchases, all of which West is accused of using it for.
Those transactions exceeded the limit and totaled more than $3,000, deputies said.
The warrant states that West also wrote herself $16,000 in extra paychecks, entering the expenses in to the HOA’s system as payments for maintenance vendors. Deputies said they contacted those vendors, who had no records of the transactions.
Silver Shores also had an Amazon account and West made use of it — for herself, deputies allege.
They said she made 194 unauthorized purchases on the account.
MCSO Detective Ian Barnett wrote, “Some of those purchases were for a giant car bow, a child’s princess dress, dog toys, health pills, women’s clothes (bras, sandals), make-up, children’s toys, Instacart, gas station purchases, gardening items, drug store purchases, home furnishings, a hotel stay, an online real estate school, car parts, a Cricket phone (which she was not authorized to use), Shutterstock (online stock photos) and three payments of $375.00 to Gynomed (AKA Miami Center of Excellence - a women’s health office in Miami).”
Barnett also described four other purchases: a 12-pack of children’s bath bombs, a set of LED lights, Charmin Ultra Strong toilet paper and an Amazon Echo smart speaker.
She had the items sent to various addresses, including her home, the office and her daughter’s home in the Orlando area, authorities said.
All told, deputies said West spent $33,959.57.
Barnett wrote in the warrant that he made multiple attempts to get in touch with West, who said on Nov. 17 that she no longer lived in the Keys, but in Orlando.
On one attempt to schedule an interview, on Dec. 6, the detective wrote that West responded, “Ha, well I’ll be traveling....the holidays are crazy.” He said he never heard back after that.
West’s charges are no laughing matter. She faces 35 of them in total: 16 counts each of forgery and uttering a forged instrument, two fraud charges and a grand theft charge.
She remains in the Orange County jail awaiting a return to South Florida, according to that county’s online records.