``It was ... kind of disorganized and falling apart,'' Herce remembered in a sworn statement he gave investigators in the Crooks case in 1999.

What's more, it was $50,000 in debt.

As Herce tells it, some on the board asked whether he wanted to be president. He agreed. The year was 1993. He came in with a plan.

First, he moved chapter headquarters from Sarasota to Tampa.

Then he recruited powerful friends from local businesses, legal circles and law enforcement to serve on the board.

Next he tapped Crooks to run daily operations as executive director. One of her strengths was that she knew practically everyone at city hall and the courthouse.

Then Herce gave his new team a marching order: Make it rain.

Everyone on the board was required to generate donations. Herce wanted a minimum of $5,000 from each within six months. ``If not, he will be looking for a resignation,'' minutes from a 1994 meeting say.

During the years Herce was president - his term ended in July 1999 - the number of wishes the chapter granted ballooned from 10 a year to 100, and contributions soared from $280,000 per year to more than $1 million.

As they courted new donors, Herce and Crooks realized they were missing out on credit card donations. Crooks helped set up an account.

She obtained a Make-A- Wish credit card with her name on it, then began using it for personal expenditures: haircuts, dinners out - the list kept growing longer.

Herce insisted during a deposition for the Crooks case five years ago that he didn't know about the card.

``We've never authorized a credit card, and we never discussed a credit card,'' Herce said. ``No one ever told me we were applying for a credit card. No one ever told me we had a credit card.''

Documents from Crooks' case file contradict him.

His signature appears on the credit card application. In his deposition, Herce said he thought he was signing an application for the charity to receive credit card payments. When asked if he read the form, he called it ``one of those documents, like when you buy or lease a car, with all the fine print. And I may have just asked, `Well, what's this?' ''

In addition, the chapter treasurer at the time, Scott Fulton, provided a sworn statement saying Crooks' possession of the card was no secret.

``I recall that the Board of Directors was advised of the credit card and approved obtaining it,'' Fulton wrote. As president, Herce chaired the board. Fulton believed Herce ``also knew and approved the issuance of the credit card to Delores Crooks,'' he added. Fulton's signature appears just below Herce's on the application.