VERO BEACH — Sara Beth Kennedy sits near a window in her parents’ Vero Isles home overlooking the spot at the edge of the Indian River Lagoon where in 2006 an international gathering of guests watched as she wrapped her arms around the man she just married and professed her love for him.
She shakes her head and tries to hold it together but tears spill from her sad blue eyes as she talks about Burim Turkaj, 35, the man she not long ago admired for the strength and courage he demonstrated after he arrived in the United States from war-ravaged Kosovo.
When he stepped on U.S. soil, he did not speak English, but he thrived in this country, getting a college education and becoming an investment advisor for a major bank.
That world unraveled earlier this year when he was accused of fleecing elderly clients of their lifesavings as a broker for PNC at the bank’s Ocean Drive branch.
Now that he is behind bars, Kennedy says she feels bad for her former in-laws who depended on money from their son.
“They will probably never see him again,” she says.
Kennedy, a member of one of Vero’s most prominent pioneering citrus families, divorced Turkaj two years ago.
Earlier this year, she found out her former husband and the father of her son allegedly forged her name when he opened a bank account and used it to hide money he drained from his clients’ accounts.
With a $1.5 million bond keeping him in the Indian River County Jail, Turkaj awaits trial on four counts of theft from the elderly, four counts of criminal use of personal ID information and one count of fraudulent use of a personal ID. He is accused of stealing nearly $400,000 from the four clients whose ages ranged from 85 to 90.
Turkaj fled the U.S. and was arrested last month when investigators tricked him into returning to the United States to face a minor charge of theft of his work computer. When he landed in Orlando, they arrested him on the bigger more serious charges of stealing from his elderly clients. He’s been jailed since then.
“I just don’t know why he would do this,” Kennedy says. “I don’t know why he would make that decision, a decision that would separate him from his son. I really thought he was doing fine financially.”
Kennedy said she cannot fathom why her former husband would prey on the elderly investors or why he’d throw away everything good that happened to him since arriving in the United States.
Kennedy said the only requirement of their divorce was that he pays for their son’s education at St. Edwards School and provides health insurance for the boy. Otherwise, they had joint custody and he was not required to pay her alimony or child support.
Yet, he appears to be destitute.
Prominent South Florida lawyer Jeffrey Voluck, who was scheduled to represent him, said that arrangement is off because Turkaj has no money to pay him. Turkaj is scheduled for a hearing in court next month.
Turkaj’s life apparently started to derail earlier this year.
In February, Kennedy said she got a text message from Turkaj. “My dad is sick and I have to go.”
When Kennedy received the text, Turkaj was already at the Orlando International Airport and about to board a plan to Kosovo with Micaela Boyd, his current girlfriend.
The pair apparently was in a rush to reach the airport, leaving their South Vero Beach mainland home unlocked with the family dog inside in their haste to depart. Apparently, they hoped Kennedy would go over and retrieve the pet.
Kennedy said Turkaj promised her he would be back in a few weeks. Ten days went by and she heard nothing. He didn’t call his son or send text messages about the condition of his father.
A PNC coworker called Kennedy asking if she knew why Turkaj wasn’t at work.
Kennedy’s mind raced, surely he would have let work know he needed to care for his dad. Wouldn’t he?
About three weeks later, Turkaj returned home and told her he quit his job because PNC changed his commission package. In reality, PNC fired him after the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office and State Attorney’s Office began investigating the alleged theft of his clients’ money.
Kennedy said Turkaj was home about a week and apparently worked out his plan to flee the country again. She said he drove up in a rental car wearing a baseball cap, something very unusual for him and told her he was on his way to the airport. Again, Turkaj told Kennedy he needed her to care for the dog.
Turkaj told Kennedy he was now engaged to Boyd, his 24-year-old girlfriend. He said there was nothing left in Vero for him and he wanted to return to the village in Kosovo where he grew up. He spoke of bringing their son out for the summer.
“He had an answer for everything,” Kennedy says of the last time she saw him. “But my gut was telling me something isn’t right. And then he left and left the dog with me.”
Kennedy said she then got what appeared to be a form letter from PNC asking her to contact them if she thought her money, money Turkaj invested on her behalf, might be missing. Investigators then called.
“My blood ran cold,” she said of that spring day.
Just last month the couple saw each other once again.
Turkaj was shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit. Instead of facing his accusers on the theft charge, he faced his ex-wife who petitioned the court that she be awarded temporary sole custody of their child.
Turkaj did not fight motion, siding with Kennedy and said that his son, now six, would be in good hands with her. The judge agreed.
Turkaj’s deceit also jarred Boyd. She wouldn’t learn about the truth until she traveled halfway across the world to Kosovo with her fiancé.
“I was basically lied to,” said Boyd, who not long after meeting Turkaj at a Naples art show in February 2012 moved from Palm Beach into his home. “I don’t even know what the truth is at this point.”
Boyd said Turkaj promised her the world. He told her she’d never have to work as long as she stayed with him. Soon, she said, she was isolated from her family friends.
“He was generous and helped me with all my bills,” said Boyd, who left Turkaj in Kosovo when she learned he was in deep trouble and that he hadn’t been honest with her about the severity of it. “I wasn’t used to that kind of money. He was a super nice guy and I basically fell in love with the man I thought he was. And now I’ve come to find out that he was generous with other peoples’ money and that is very disturbing.”
Not too long ago, Boyd said she and Turkaj were watching a documentary on Bernie Madoff, the former NASDAQ chairman who in 2009 was sentenced to 150 years in prison for his elaborate $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
“I turned to him and said, ‘I feel so bad for you because investment advisors must be getting a bad rap,’ and he said, ‘My clients know they can trust me 100 percent.’ You know it’s ironic, us watching that and he was patting himself on the back.”