Borderline Owner Sentenced For Embezzlment

Thursday November 30, 2023

     Updated--The principal owner of the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks has been sentenced to jail after a jury had earlier convicted him of grand theft/embezzlement.

     Prosecutors say 43-year-old Brian Andrew Hynes of Thousand Oaks had partnered with Westlake Rotary in 2020 to put on the annual charity event known as the Oak Heart Music Festival.

     But when the COVID pandemic forced cancellation of the event, Hynes misappropriated the refunded deposits for the musical acts in the amount of $43,750.

     Prosecutors say that instead of returning the money to the Rotary and ticket holders, Hynes put the money in a general business bank account that he controlled and then used it for unrelated business and personal expenses.

    On Thursday, the judge gave Hynes a suspended sentence and placed him on two years of formal probation.

     But the judge also ordered that Hynes, who has been free on bail since his arrest, spend 60 days in the county jail to start on January 5th.

     Hynes was also ordered to pay restitution.