Restitution Totals Ordered For Area Condo Associations

SNOW HILL -- In what will likely bring some measure of closure in the case against a Berlin businessman convicted in August of a theft scheme during which he bilked several area condo associations out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, a restitution hearing was held this week resulting in a plan to pay the victims back.

In April, a Worcester County grand jury indicted William W. Scott, president of Scott and Associates, a local accounting and property management firm, on six counts of theft and theft scheme for clearing out the accounts of a handful of condominium associations over a two-year period that ended with his confession earlier this year.

His victims included, among others, the Sunset Village, Assateague House and San Remo condo associations, from which Scott absconded with over $800,000 from various operating and reserve accounts.


During the trial, which concluded on Aug. 17, victim testimony built a compelling case against Scott. Also during trial, a videotaped confession was shown in court, taken last February when Scott’s theft scheme began to unravel. After two days of testimony, Judge Richard Bloxom found Scott guilty of two counts of theft scheme over $100,000 and one count of theft scheme from $10,000 to $100,000.


For each of the first two counts, Bloxom sentenced Scott to 20 years with all but 10 years suspended. For the lesser conviction, Bloxom sentenced Scott to 15 years with all but 10 years suspended. The sentences are to be served concurrently, netting Scott a total of 10 years.

At the close of the trial in August, Bloxom said the details of how Scott would begin paying over $800,000 in restitution to the victims would be sorted out at a later date. That date came on Monday when a restitution hearing was held in Circuit Court in Snow Hill.

Scott was ordered to pay the Assateague House Condominium Association over $336,517 in restitution, the Sunset Village Condominium Association over $330,476, and the San Remo Condo Association $30,707.  

Other than the final figures, the details of the restitution plan are not known, nor is it certain how or when Scott might be able to repay the victims.

At the close of the trial in August, Scott made a  last ditch plea with the judge to consider keeping him out of jail, which would allow him to accept an employment offer in order to begin paying back the various victims in the case, but the plea fell on deaf ears.