A former Key West police detective and a business associate in his Big Pine Key security company on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to accusations that they swindled the state out of more than $24,000.

David Allen Disgdiertt and Etta Elizabeth Bernhard were charged with more than 127 misdemeanor counts of failing, neglecting or refusing to collect tax, two felony counts of false representation to avoid or reduce contributions and one misdemeanor count of failing to register a business.

Miami attorney Ken Kukec said Disgdiertt plans to challenge the charges. Bernhard states in arrest warrants that she had no knowledge of the tax aspect of the business.

Assistant State Attorney Demetrios Efstratiou asked a judge to postpone the trial until Feb. 3 because prosecutors still must obtain sworn testimony from a Department of Revenue investigator, he said.

Disgdiertt didn't collect $24,030 in sales and use taxes from some clients of his Big Pine Key company, Majestic Security Investigation, according to the Monroe County State Attorney's Office arrest warrant. Disgdiertt also failed to file unemployment compensation reports and proper tax documentation to operate a business, reports say.

A federal investigator reviewed contracts, invoices and payments for security guard services from 25 of Disgdiertt's clients and interviewed former employees, according to the arrest warrant. The contracts allegedly stated that sales tax was included in the services.

A former employee sued him in 2006 for lost wages and Disgdiertt was ordered to pay $14,000.

Disgdiertt was fired from the Key West Police Department on Dec. 12, 1986, after an internal investigation found he falsified wreck records, work records, time sheets and other city records. It also found he was insubordinate and exhibited "immoral, unlawful or improper conduct or indecency, either on or off the job, that would tend to affect the employee's relationship to the job, the fellow workers, or the employee's reputation or goodwill in the community."

alinhardt@keysnews.com