Accountant pleads not guilty to theft charges

A Huntington Beach accountant has pleaded not guilty to charges that he stole nearly $50,000 from the Los Alamitos Rotary Club.

Patrick David Dugan, 49, a certified public accountant, is accused of transferring $49,000 of the club’s funds to his personal account while serving as treasurer.

Dugan had been the club’s financial officer since 1998 and had sole responsibility for its financial records and statements.

He is alleged to have transferred the funds between December 2005 and December 2007, then altered the club’s financial statements, authorities said.

The alleged theft was discovered after he became ill in April 2008. The following month, club members who had taken over the books noticed discrepancies between official bank records and club records.

The club reported the apparent theft to the Los Alamitos Police Department, which transferred the case to the Orange County district attorney’s office in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Dugan faces one count of grand theft and two counts of money laundering. If convicted of all three felonies, he faces up to four years and four months in state prison.

His pretrial will be at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 1 in Courtroom C55 of the Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana.

— Candice Baker