Two Meyer Company employees today admitted stealing almost $200,000 from their employer.Stephen Paynter, 59, of Cove Valley Road, St George’s, and Debra Pacheco, 53, of Astwood Close, Pembroke, appeared before Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo.The Crown accepted the guilty pleas and attached a further file alleging the pair may have stolen more than $2.2 million over a three-year period dating back to 2006.Crown Counsel Cindy Clarke told the court both defendants were in a position of trust Paynter was in a management position and Pacheco in accounts.The two worked at one of the shipping arms of William E Meyer and Company, the parent for the Meyer Group of companies.Ms Clarke said a police investigation started in 2009. Paynter and Pacheco admitted stealing $190,490.23 belonging to the Meyer Group. They also admitted conspiring together to defraud the company between August 2006 and March 2009.Pacheco admitted a further charge of falsifying company records and accounts with a view to personal gain. Ms Clarke told the court today Pacheco used the money to live an extravagant lifestyle.Ms Clarke said the Crown had bank records showing Pacheco made large payments on both her American Express and Bermuda Credit cards on a regular basis. One payment on her American Express card alone was $66,000.Ms Clarke said: “She paid $25,000 on her American Express and $11,000 on her Bermuda card in 2007 with money she could not account for. The bank records show other payments of $66,000, $9,000, $23,000 and $3,000 on her credit cards over a three-year period.“All of it was money from ill-gotten gain from their Meyer scheme,” said Ms Clarke. “Pacheco spent 92 percent of that income on shopping, she lived an extravagant lifestyle. And Meyer’s management was overly trusting of two individuals clearly in a position of trust.”Of the $190,490.23, Ms Clarke said $110,000 went to Paynter alone. Both defendants stood with their heads bowed for the lengthy reading of the charge sheet. Eventually Mr Tokunbo ordered a social inquiry report, and set the trial down for May 8.Both defendants had their bail of $5,000 with one surety extended pending the report and the sentencing was set down for May 8.