College Official Agrees to Sentence in Embezzlement

A UC Santa Barbara buildings and grounds official agreed Friday to plead no contest to three counts of embezzlement of university funds and supplies, the Santa Barbara County district attorney’s office announced.

The plea-bargaining agreement calls for Holger Chris Ferdinandson to repay $100,000 to the university and to be sentenced to four years and four months in prison. Formal sentencing was set April 15.

Ferdinandson, 57, manager of the university’s buildings and grounds division, also agreed to testify against former UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Robert Huttenback if Huttenback is arrested or indicted, Assistant Dist. Atty. Patrick McKinley said.

Huttenback, who resigned last July after a university audit found he had misspent $174,000 on his personal residence, has not been charged with any criminal offense, but a joint investigation by the district attorney and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department has been under way since Oct. 1.

“That investigation is continuing, and a decision will be made Monday” whether to charge Huttenback, McKinley said.

McKinley described Ferdinandson as “an unimportant witness” in the Huttenback investigation, but said his testimony will be “very important” in pressing the state’s case against six Santa Barbara contractors and businesses accused of being involved in kickback deals with Ferdinandson.

Ferdinandson was arrested Dec. 11 on suspicion of 11 counts of embezzlement. He has been free on his own recognizance since then. Ferdinandson was accused of making kickback arrangements with contractors working on his private house and also of charging some of the work to the university.

McKinley said Ferdinandson’s embezzlement of university money and equipment totaled about $220,000.

Terry Cannon, Ferdinandson’s attorney, said Friday that the plea-bargain allows Ferdinandson to back up the $100,000 restitution to the university with the home he owns. Moreover, said Cannon, Ferdinandson’s wife will be allowed to live in the house while Ferdinandson is serving time in prison.