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Highlands Today

Dan Andrews Enters Not Guilty Plea

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Brad Dickerson

Published: December 22, 2008

SEBRING - A written plea of not guilty was entered Monday for Sebring City Councilman Dan Andrews, who was arrested Nov. 24 on felony charges.

Andrews, 33, faces counts of grand theft, scheming to defraud and embezzlement by making false entries on the books of a corporation, stemming from his position as executive director of the Greater Sebring Chamber of Commerce.

Since the plea was entered in written form, Andrews did not have to be present for Monday's arraignment.

Andrews allegedly used his corporate credit card to pay his wife's cell phone bills, buy her a Tiffany necklace, charge gasoline, landscape his house and buy an expensive set of golf clubs.

On April 22, Andrews was terminated from his position by the chamber executive board after it was discovered he had mismanaged organizational finances, according to a Nov. 25 Highlands Today report.

Board members and a new accounting firm allegedly discovered about $90,000 in dedicated scholarship funds had been moved to an operational fund and spent, and $29,000 in grant money was not paid to a contractor who remodeled the chamber's downtown welcome center.

Two days after his arrest, Gov. Charlie Crist issued an executive order suspending Andrews from the city council. That suspension can only be lifted by a further executive order from the governor.

Former city Councilman John Clark was tapped to temporarily replace Andrews in light of Crist's ordered suspension.

A pretrial conference in Andrews' case is scheduled for Jan. 22 at 8:30 a.m.

Highlands Today reporter Brad Dickerson can be reached at (863) 386-5838 or bdickerson@highlandstoday.com

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