Release Date: September 1, 2009

Contact:

Howard A. Wise, Senior Deputy District Attorney

(805) 662-1736

District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that Daphne Ann Brenon (DOB 03/30/56) of Westlake Village pleaded guilty to two counts of grand theft, one count of filing a false tax return and admitted to taking more than $150,000. This matter was investigated by the Ventura County Sheriff's Department and the California Franchise Tax Board.

From 1998 to 2004, Brenon was the property manager for the Spanish Hills Homeowners Association (SHHA). In that capacity, she stole more than $400,000 from SHHA by causing unauthorized checks to be written from the SHHA to herself and her employer, Dahl Davis. Brenon also caused SHHA checks, and checks from the Westlake Canyon Oaks Homeowners Association, to be written to a friend that she falsely claimed was a contractor. In tax year 2003, Brenon did not declare the unauthorized income that she received from SHHA.

Sentencing is scheduled for November 4, 2009, at 1:30 p.m. in courtroom 13. Brenon is expected to be sentenced to four years and eight months in state prison. Reynaldo Bernabe was Brenon's co-defendant in the scheme to write unauthorized Homeowners Association checks to Brenon's friend. In June 2007, Bernabe pleaded guilty to grand theft, received one year in jail and was placed on felony probation for five years.