StripTags method replaces "&nbsp"   with at sign ("@")

I remove HTML tags from a string using the StripTags method. In one case, when the string contains the "&nbsp" character, the method replaces it with the "at" sign (@). Is there any other way to get rid of the tags and turn &nbsp to space?

and I use simply: description = HTMLHelper.StripTags(Model.Description); while Model.Description string is e.g.:

"<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, « &nbsp sed do eiusmod &nbsp » tempor... </p>"

as a result I get:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, « @ sed do eiusmod @ » tempor...