CAPITOLA — After months of complaints and private lawsuits, the owner of a Capitola property management and beach house rental company has been charged with numerous counts of felony elder financial abuse and embezzlement.
In a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Santa Cruz Superior Court, the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office claims Dolores “Dede” Harrington allegedly committed financial elder abuse and embezzlement against two named women; plus additional embezzlement charges related to four named men. Harrington is also charged with two counts of bad check writing, involving sums of approximately $11,521 and $10,000. The charges cover a span of time from early 2020 through August 2022.
Harrington’s Beach House Rentals had brokered high-end vacation, home, condo, cottage and townhome rentals since 2004, according to its website, Beach-Houserentals.com. Visits to the business’ website show no listings and its phone number appeared to be disconnected Thursday.
Officers from the Capitola Police Department, accompanied by District Attorney’s Office agents, arrested Harrington, owner of Beach House Rentals LLC at 312 Capitola Ave., on Oct. 5 at a residence on Woolsey Circle, according to the department.
According to court records, Harrington was released on a $10,000 bond the same day. Harrington is scheduled for arraignment before Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Stephen Siegel at 8:15 a.m., Nov. 1. There are an additional five civil breach of contract actions, each filed against Harrington in 2022, active in the Santa Cruz County Superior Court, according to court records.
In recent weeks, Bonny Doon property owner Nicole Anderson reached out to the Sentinel to share concerns of her experiences renting with Beach House Rentals after her home was destroyed in the August 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fire. After having a “wonderful stay” at a Beach House Rentals temporary home from July 2021 through July 2022, Anderson said she received confirmation that she would be mailed a $6,435 check reimbursing her deposit.
“Unfortunately, the check never came and they have gone silent,” Anderson wrote in a Sept. 24 email to the Sentinel.
Anderson, who is staying in Chicago, said she posted her story on Facebook and heard a similar experience from another Bonny Doon fire survivor.
“It took going to their office and standing outside until someone came out (they locked the door and pretended not to be there),” Anderson wrote of her efforts to retrieve her deposit from Beach House Rentals. “Anyway, I’m exhausted. I’ve been fighting insurance for two years, and now the county, the last thing I need as a fire survivor is for a local business to put me through this. It’s illegal for them to hold my money like this.”
According to a press release issued on social media by the Capitola Police Department, Harrington’s arrest stemmed from an ongoing and collective investigation involving vacation rental scams. Partner agencies included the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office, the Santa Cruz Anti-Crime Team and the California Department of Real Estate. Capitola police are urging those with additional information related to the case or who may be a victim of a crime to call its non-emergency dispatch number, at 831-471-1141.
