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Apartment manager accused of pocketing more than $100,000 worth of tenants’ rent for more than three years

Posted at 4:33 PM, Nov 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-20 23:19:19-05

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - An apartment manager was indicted for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft charges Monday after federal prosecutors accused her of stealing from the Tower Park Management.

Jannelisse Franco was the manager at the Styron Square Apartments on Thimble Shoals Boulevard in Newport News.

Federal prosecutors claim Franco would take money orders from tenants that were intended to go to Tower Park Management and deposit them into her personal accounts.

Documents state she would allegedly scratch off the name of the complex and put her own name.

They also indicate the alleged scheme went on for three years, totaling more than $100,000 in which 50 deposits were made.

It states the alleged crimes happened between July 2013 through September 2016.

The documents say that to conceal her scheme from her employer, “Franco would grant tenants fictitious ‘rent concessions’ in the Tower Park’s accounting system, making it appear on the ledger as though the tenants’ rent had been comped for the month. In reality, tenants still paid the full amount owed, but the money from their payments would go Franco instead of Styron Square Apartments.”

News 3 called Tower Park Management and a person who answered the phone said they had no comment about this.