50 Case Studies for Management and Supervisory Training

50 Case Studies for Management and Supervisory Training

252

Case 47 (continued)

Case Discussion:

Caught in the Act

Summary: Part 1—A New Man on Deck

Wendy Samikura was one of the property managers with Johnson Properties. She was responsible

for and had almost total authority for renting and maintaining five apartment complexes. The

main property in this group was Armitage Towers, a 150-unit high rise that rented mainly to

retired senior citizens.

Two years ago, the resident manager of the Towers resigned. The resident manager was

housed in an on-site apartment so that he would be available on a round-the-clock basis to service

the tenants and the building. He took care of all repairs at the Towers and had master keys to the

building in case he needed to enter the units to do repair work. To replace the retiring manager,

Wendy ran an ad in the local papers.

One of the applicants with whom she talked was Frank Lupo, 35. Frank claimed strong cre-

dentials in resident management. He was looking for a job with less commuting. Wendy inter-

viewed Frank, then visited his home to meet his wife and daughter. She checked the reference

from his current boss and received a good report. She hired Frank for the job, and he moved into

the apartment with his family shortly thereafter.

During the first year, Wendy regularly visited Frank and the Towers to review matters, call-

ing him first to make sure he was available. The tenants seemed to like Frank, although she did

hear some complaints about his drinking on the job. These complaints were dismissed.

Not long after Frank’s one-year anniversary, Wendy dropped by the Towers one afternoon

unannounced. She found Frank in his apartment, drunk. Obviously he had been asleep. Frank

explained that this wife had left him the night before. After some discussion, Wendy told him to

go to Alcoholics Anonymous. Several weeks later, Frank told her he had gone to AA.

One day, Wendy received a report from the daughter of Mrs. Creedy, a tenant at the towers,

that her mother had been robbed of some cash in her apartment. She had given her mother about

$120 in cash when she dropped her mother off at the Towers, and Frank had helped Mrs. Creedy

from the car and into the building. However, it was unclear how the robbery occurred. Mrs.

Creedy reported that the chain was still on the door, and police found no signs of forced entry.

They did, however, find that one of the links on the door’s chain had been sawn through. In talk-

ing with the victim, Wendy learned for the first time that other tenants had been victims of similar

thefts, which they had reported to Frank Lupo. He did nothing further with the reports.

During this period, Wendy received the phone bill for Frank’s apartment. The bill contained a

large number of brief calls to the same number. The calls occurred at any time, day or night.

Wendy learned from the phone company that the receiving number was a beeper belonging to

someone in the adjoining township. She now suspected drugs were the source of the problem.