NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Middle Tennessee homeowners association says its former property manager, Emery Gasser, drained more than $200,000 from their accounts — moving some of that money into accounts he owned.
The Brookview Forest neighborhood off Nolensville Pike elected a new board in December. That new board has poured through the ledgers available to them — only 3 and a half years' worth of records. They found Gasser wrote checks and moved money into his own accounts, into other HOAs, and even to some people they don't know.
"This is a middle class working class neighborhood," one board member said.
"We hadn't been paying our bills and moving monies in and out in order to keep level cash flow for a long time," another said.
The task of parsing through their HOA's financial past was dropped on Brookview Forest's newest board members: President Rachael Adkins and Treasurer Allison Davis.
"A $24 payment to Gasser wouldn't flag anyone's radar in an audit, but if that's done substantially overtime, you then say something's going on here, it seems unusual," Adkins said.
They found copies of checks. Several were made out to Gasser's company from the Brookview Forest account — beyond the regular monthly payment as the property management company.
"Over the 3 and a half years of records we have, I identified 131 payments to Gasser — that does not include to Emery Gasser himself, but strictly to the company, and that does not include ACH transfers," Adkins said.
"They equate to… $48,500. Let's round up," Adkins said.
Within the past 3 and a half years, the HOA also paid unknown vendors — including Common Ground Services, an old assumed name of Gasser Property Management. Public records show Common Ground's registration with the Secretary of State lapsed in 2019. Another group of payments were made to Stonewood Services, which public records show is owned by Emery Gasser's son, Michael Gasser.
"Stonewood Services and Common Ground LLC — what services did they render to you? No idea. I have no invoices for that. I have no understanding of why we would have needed services," a board member said.
Also in the ledger: checks paid to other HOA accounts.
"Here it is right here — Carothers Crossing, that's $3,000. That's one HOA," Adkins said.
"That's the big one — Chapman Retreat — yes, it's $40,000. Woodside HOA," Adkins and Davis said.
"For at least the last decade, there's been an inflow and outflow of monies inappropriate," a board member said.
"The majority of homeowners were not in the knowing that this was going on until it was revealed by your investigation," Davis said.
"We are far north of $200,000 lost," Adkins said.
"When you're talking about a quarter of a million dollars for a very small neighborhood — that's heavy, knowing that folks have essentially been stolen from and defrauded, and there's no immediate reaction, response, handcuffs," a board member said.
I reached out to a few of the vendors, including Michael Gasser with Stonewood Services. He told me Emery is his father and that this has been hard on his family. He told me when he found out about this, he was taken by surprise and stepped away from the business. He did not explain how he found out or what kind of services he rendered.
Brookview Forest has also connected with other HOAs and found a repeating pattern. They checked their own notes and ledgers with other HOAs and found similar charges — including money paid to Gasser and moved to other HOAs. HOA leaders formerly under Gasser are being advised to connect with one another to learn of these patterns involving bank accounts, vendors, and payments.
My investigation previously revealed millions of dollars missing from HOA accounts across Middle Tennessee. That led to a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation criminal investigation and a civil suit now filed against Gasser Property Management.
If you have thoughts on this story or believe you or your community have been affected please email me at Amanda.Roberts@NewsChannel5.com
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