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Commissioner Caught With Pants Down Says It Was A Prank

Posted: 6:44 am EDT April 12, 2004Updated: 5:05 pm EDT April 12, 2004

There's new information about an Ocoee city commissioner caught sitting half-naked in his car in a city park. Commissioner Danny Howell insists he's the victim of a prank. But a political rival says Howell is just a victim of his own poor judgment.

Ocoee police discovered Commissioner Danny Howell around one o'clock Sunday morning. Police reports say, when they found him, Howell was sitting in the driver's seat of his car, incoherent and undressed from the waist down.

The obvious question is, why was Howell there?

The officer who walked up on Howell says he "observed the male had no pants on" and "the male had his groin are covered with his hands and a white towel."

The report also says Howell told police he had taken half of a pill of the prescription anti-anxiety drug Xanax.

Howell isn't talking about the incident, but his friend, Tony Cristelli, is. In the report, Cristelli says, while Howell was passed out in the driver's seat, he pulled Howell's pants down.

"I'm the guy who played the prank on him," says Cristelli.

Cristelli says he knew Howell was having a dispute with his wife. He also says he knew that whenever Howell was having problems, he would often drive to the back corner of Vignetti Park to clear his mind. He also says the two often played pranks on each other and he felt that Sunday night was a great opportunity to continue this tradition.

"This is a political situation," says Cristelli.

Howell and Cristelli claim former city manger Jim Gleason spread the word about this incident as political revenge because Howell helped get Gleason fired.

"I resent the implication by Mr. Howell and Mr. Cristelli that I am somehow responsible for his predicament," says Gleason.

Gleason admits he contacted the media about the situation but he insists he did so out of concern for the public.

"You have an elected official who is in a position of responsibility who makes decisions for 31,000 people and is involved in a budget of $32 million and I think that, regardless of who reported it to the news, there's some answers out there that people would want to know," says Gleason.

Howell was not arrested or charged with anything. Right now, it is unclear if the incident will have any bearing on Howell's standing as a commissioner.

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