Former Chamber President Arrested

According to investigators, Dan Andrews 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.

Andrews, 33, of 2430 Lakeview Drive, was taken into custody Monday afternoon when law enforcement officers served a warrant to an address on Rainbow Lane, according to Highlands County Det. John Barcinas.

He was charged with larceny of more than $300 to $5,000; fraud of under $20,000, and embezzlement by making false entries in corporate books. He was booked at 4:42 p.m., and released on $3,000 bond at 6:45 p.m.

Andrews was hired as the president of the Greater Sebring Chamber of Commerce in March 2005 at a salary of $38,000 a year. Seven months later, he got a $1,000 a month raise.

But by February 2006, Andrews fired the chamber's bookkeeper, said state attorney's investigator Jeanette Dugas in an arrest warrant.

On April 22 of this year, the chamber executive board terminated Andrews, 33, after it was discovered he had mismanaged the finances of the organization. When he was dismissed, he wrote a check for more than $9,000 to repay the chamber for items he had purchased on the corporate credit card.

After Andrews was dismissed, board members and a new accounting firm, hired to replace Toni Kopp, discovered about $90,000 in dedicated scholarship funds had been moved to an operational fund and spent, and that $29,000 in grant money wasn't paid to contractor Mark Stewart for remodeling the chamber's downtown welcome center.

More money remains missing, unaccounted for or misspent. The chamber reportedly owes about $500,000.

Chamber directors said they didn't know what happened to the money, which is why the state attorney was asked to investigate.

"We're broke," said one chamber director at the time.

"We have a serious cash flow problem," another director said.

Lack Of Accounting

The five-page complaint affidavit by Dugas, who is also a CPA, alleges that under Andrews' predecessor, bookkeeper Kopp always received receipts for charges and would receive reimbursement for cash expenses.

"Kopp stated that Andrews would never give her receipts," said the Dugas affidavit. "Andrews told Kopp that he had the receipts at home."

Andrews would also intercept the bills for the chamber's Bank of America Visa card. One reason why: on Dec. 22, 2005, there was an item from Tiffany & Co. for a $500 necklace. Kopp saw that one, and required Andrews to reimburse the chamber.

After Kopp was terminated by Andrews, an annual audit wasn't conducted in 2006, even though such reviews were required by the chamber bylaws.

"No further reviews or audits of the financial statements have been conducted since," Dugas wrote in the Nov. 21 affidavit.

The chamber board hired the NCT Group to handle accounts payable, write checks and perform basic accounting. But Bill Benton told the investigator that NCT was never able to fully complete an accounting because complete information and bank statements were never received from Andrews.

"Andrews continued to tell NCT Group that he was working on catching up so he could turn everything over to them," Dugas wrote. "Prior to working for the chamber, Andrews was employed by local CPA firm Carlson Accounting. NCT Group felt Andrews had the knowledge and experience necessary to compile the records."

But Andrews always had an excuse for not providing the records, Dugas wrote. In October 2007, NCT mailed a letter to the chamber board. Andrews intercepted that letter, board members have said.

So on Jan. 21, NCT Group sent a letter directly to board members, and finally received a response.

Charges Detailed

Although Andrews had a $50,000 a year salary, he opened an American Express credit card in the name of the Sebring chamber, said Dugas. Although the bills were paid by the chamber, two board members said they were unaware of the second line of credit.

Since he was employed, Andrews charged more than $4,000 to those chamber credit cards, Dugas said, "and asked for additional reimbursement for other meals."

• Sarah Pallone, who was Andrew's assistant at the time, told Dugas she had never seen him keep a mileage log when she rode with Andrews to business meetings. Even so, he received mileage checks, and then also charged $1,908 in gasoline, car washes, and other services to his vehicle, which had not been reimbursed to the chamber.

Instead, Andrews claimed those charges were incurred when he rode with other members, like Mike Kirouac, a friend who is also a chamber vendor and rented chamber space. After explaining, Andrews reimbursed the chamber, which included gasoline and the cell phone bills of his wife.

• Andrews did not reimburse a Beall's department store charge for $137 and $460 to the South Florida Community College box office.

• In November 2006, Andrews hosted a reception for chamber Key Leaders. Although he received no approval, Dugas said, he charged $1,252 at Home Depot, Robbins Nursery and other businesses. Chamber members said Andrews made minor repairs, remodeling and landscaping at his home.

"However, most interesting is that while the Key Leader was in November 2006, the Robbins Nursery transaction did not occur until March 2007," Dugas said.

• A year later, Andrews charged a $625 set of Mizzuno golf clubs to the chamber American Express card. Tammy Haskeet, a salesperson at Golf USA, recalls telling Andrews and his companion, Jeff Carlson, that the clubs weren't for novices. However, Andrews decided to hold a golf tournament and raffle the clubs.

"However, no Mizzuno irons were raffled or given out as prizes," Dugas said. Andrews was asked on Feb. 22 about the clubs; Andrews said he would find them. "To date, no clubs have been located or returned."

• By Aug. 31, 2006, the chamber scholarship fund had reached a high balance of $74,236. Bookkeeper Kopp told Dugas that to her knowledge, no money had ever been drawn out for anything except to fund scholarships. However, from that point on, funds were withdrawn for other reasons. One banquet cost $7,295.

Dugas detailed a series of eight withdrawals from September to November 2006 which totaled $65,500.

"After the transfer on Nov. 30, the balance in the account was $345.48," Dugas said. Another $12,100 in deposits were also diverted. When board members asked Andrews about the money on Feb. 22, 2008, he admitted he didn't have board approval, but nevertheless borrowed the money for operating cash.

When asked why he continued to report a $75,000 balance, Andrews told the board it was an error, according to the minutes of the meeting.

"At least six balance sheets were presented by Dan Andrews to the board showing falsified balances for the scholarship account," Dugas wrote.

• Dugas detailed five checks written to Dan Andrews, totaling about $2,000. Those checks do not coincide with payroll or mileage. One was simply a counter check written on a Mid-Florida account for $180, with no explanation at all.

• Pallone, who became the executive director after Andrews was fired, told Dugas she found undeposited membership dues in a chamber storage unit, and two-year-old invoices which were never opened. Her own paycheck bounced three times, and her health policy was cancelled for non-payment.

Andrews, Dugas concluded, "did engage in a systematic oncoming course of conduct with intent to defraud."

Reactions

Andrews remains on the Sebring City Council. Attempts to contact him have been unsuccessful since April. He does not return messages left on his cell phone.

Susan Jones, chairman of the chamber board, refused to comment, and forwarded questions to the chamber's attorney, Clifford Rhoades. Rhoades didn't return a telephone message by press time.

Roger Jaudon, owner of Sofa Gallery, sent the chamber a letter last week, explaining why he wasn't sending his $250 annual membership dues.

"It would be a good time to become public, and do an in-depth interview with the news media," Jaudon said. Chamber members need to understand what's going on with their chamber, including why chamber board members didn't react more quickly to the danger signs, he said.

"Get a new, clean slate," he urged.

Jaudon didn't want to be judgmental about Andrews, however. "He's going to need a lot of forgiveness and a lot of prayer."