LAKEPORT — The Lake County District Attorney”s Office on Monday moved to dismiss the embezzlement case against a former executive director of the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center.
District Attorney Don Anderson told the court his office would be dropping the charges against Rowland James Mosser because the lead investigator in the case recently died.
Judge Robert L. Crone Jr. granted the dismissal request Monday afternoon at the Lake County Courthouse.
“This is the last thing we wanted to have happen,” Anderson said after the hearing.
There would be no way to re-open the investigation or authenticate the evidence already collected without the testimony of investigator Ron Larsen, who died several months ago, according to Anderson.
Mosser, 67, had faced four felonies for allegedly stealing money from the senior center between January and mid-August 2005.
“I”m very relieved because this thing has dragged out for four years,” Mosser said.
The Lucerne resident, who served as the senior center”s executive director from January 2002 until resigning in August 2005, continually denied wrongdoing since being accused of embezzling an undetermined amount of money more than six years ago.
Mosser was taken into custody twice because of the allegations.
Chargers were originally brought against Mosser in 2008 but dismissed early in 2009 to allow for more investigation.
Authorities then arrested Mosser in September 2009. The case was set to go to trial next year.
“No I don”t feel vindicated. I”m glad the damn thing”s over with, that”s for sure,” he said. “It was a horrible experience.”
Mosser said he expects the community to have a mixed reaction to the dismissal.
“There”s going to be a lot of backlash from certain people that brought the thing in the first place,” he said.
Mosser added that he plans to remain in Lake County for the foreseeable future.
“I have no place left to go. I don”t know just how it”s going to turn out. I haven”t been able to get a job in four years. Nobody will hire me,” he said.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
