SEBASTIAN — Andy Simso, the ousted treasurer of the Sebastian Elks Club, was arrested at his Ocean Cove home Monday night on charges of organized fraud.
Simso, 69, admitted to police and to his fellow Elks members that he took money from the organization to feed his gambling habit at various internet cafes and adult arcades. Simso was released on $50,000 bond Tuesday.
Sebastian police initially thought Simso had taken roughly $86,000 from the club. They later learned he lifted $120,492 from the Elks account, its safe and its bingo fund.
Simso, who brushed off the notion of wrongdoing last spring when the story was first reported by sister publication Sebastian River News, said the whole matter was being blown out of proportion and he intended to pay the money back. He also refused to admit he had a gambling problem.
To date, Simso has paid the Elks back $59,177 leaving a balance of $61,315.
In the spring, Simso told the police he was trying to refinance his house to make up what he stole – and had yet to repay – from the Elks Club.
As it turns out, Simso refinanced his house, but the problem was the lending agency insisted he pay off all of his personal debt first before being free to spend the refinancing money at will. At the end of the day, Simso only had about $1,000 to $2,000 left to repay the Elks Club, police said.
That wasn’t good enough, said Detective Rich Snell, who has investigated the case from the start.
The Elks Club, said Snell, grew more and more frustrated as time went on and the accounts remained low.
“He had nothing to pay back,” said Snell. “It’s a crime. Obviously they are pretty mad.”
Snell said there was a time when the Elks Club thought it might have to disband because it no longer had enough money to operate efficiently.
“They were going to close their doors and shut down,” Snell said. “They were trying to get loans and do whatever they could to stay open.”
Snell was in contact with the club’s New York insurance policy holder to explain why the club should be reimbursed by the insurance company. It was unclear Monday afternoon if the club was able to use that insurance policy to offset the losses by Simso.
