Borderline Bar and Grill owner convicted of grand theft embezzlement
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (KABC) -- The owner of the former Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks was found guilty of felony grand theft after spending money meant for the Oak Heart County Music Festival, prosecutors said.
Andrew Hynes, a 43-year-old Thousand Oaks resident, was convicted by a jury, the Ventura County district attorney's office said in a statement Wednesday.
According to prosecutors, Hynes partnered with Westlake Rotary to put on the annual charity music festival in 2020.
The festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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"Hynes proceeded to misappropriate the refunded deposit for musical acts in the amount of $43,750," the DA's office said in a news release. "Instead of returning the money to Westlake Rotary and ticket holders, Hynes directed the funds to be placed into a general business bank account that he controlled. He went on to spend the festival money on his unrelated business and personal expenses."
Senior Deputy District Attorney Marc Leventhal, who prosecuted the case, said Hynes decided to misappropriate the money while facing difficult financial circumstances.
"Rather than mitigating his crime by taking responsibility, he instead put his former Rotary colleagues and business partner and employees through the ordeal of an emotionally draining trial," Leventhal said.
Hynes is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 1.
A gunman killed 12 people at the Borderline Bar & Grill on Nov. 7, 2018. The dead in the shooting rampage included sheriff's Sgt. Ron Helus, a 29-year veteran gunned down as he entered the bar, and Telemachus Orfanos, 27, who survived the previous year's massacre in Las Vegas, where a gunman in a high-rise hotel opened killed 58 people at an outdoor country music festival.
The Borderline never reopened after the mass shooting.
