‘Crippling gambling habit’ blamed for ex-property manager’s crime

A former Edmond property manager has been ordered to pay nearly $400,000 in restitution to clients she defrauded to support her “crippling gambling habit.”

Angela Renee Reneau, 53, of Cashion, also was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in federal prison. She previously pleaded guilty in Oklahoma City federal court to wire fraud and failure to file an income tax return.

“In many ways, gambling ruined Ms. Reneau’s life. In the same way, when Ms. Reneau’s crimes were exposed, she started on the road to recovery and redemption,” defense attorney Robert Wyatt wrote in a court document.

U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange chose the punishment.

The defense attorney noted that Reneau developed a gambling habit in her late 40s and “became hopelessly addicted.” When the addiction was in “full swing,” Reneau began taking money from her clients’ accounts, “always with the intention of paying the money back,” the defense attorney wrote.

But Reneau dug herself in a hole and “she could not dig herself out,” the defense attorney wrote. “She lost her home, her family, her job and her dignity.”

Between 2010 and 2014, Reneau provided real estate management services to owners of commercial office buildings in the Edmond area through her business, Reneau Properties, prosecutors said. In that time, she made unauthorized transfers of her clients’ rental income into her business’ bank account.

Reneau was ordered to pay restitution totaling $386,236 to five former clients. She also was ordered to pay $137,352 in restitution to the IRS for failing to file a federal income tax return for the 2014 tax year.

“In this case, Ms. Reneau has shown genuine remorse for her conduct, abandoned her crippling gambling habit and poses no continuing risk to the community,” her defense attorney wrote.

Reneau has been attending gambling treatment and desires to pay back her former clients, according to her attorney.