The Chief Financial Officer of a hotel group stole more than $200,000 and blew it on treats for his new wife and a property in Florida.

Markus Joerg Staebler, a German national, was jailed yesterday for four years for the massive fraud against Bermuda Resort Hotels.

He abused his position of trust to siphon cash from the coffers of four hotels in the group: Grape Bay Beach Hotel, Harmony Club, Surf Side Beach Club and the Wharf Hotel Company.

The 39-year-old pleaded guilty to 16 charges relating to $204,293.21 worth of thefts over a two year period from summer 2005. He perpetrated the fraud by writing pre-signed cheques to himself and depositing them into his own accounts, adding himself to the hotel weekly payrolls on top of the salary he was already being paid by direct deposit and using company credit card terminals to credit his personal accounts.

Staebler, of Paddock Drive, Warwick, asked for further thefts totalling $13,676.86 to be taken into account by Puisne Judge Geoffrey Bell, who sentenced him yesterday.

Crown Counsel Cindy Clarke also requested that additional charges totalling $21,939.26 lie on file, not to be proceeded with at this time.

Ms Clarke told the judge Staebler had been Chief Financial Officer of Bermuda Resort Hotels since early 2002, with responsibility for all the company's accounting functions and payroll.

In July 2007, president of the hotel group William Griffith discovered that more than $9,000 had been stolen by Staebler who had written two Bank of Bermuda cheques drawn on the Surf Side Beach Club account out to himself.

"It had been a policy within the company for Mr. Griffith to countersign a number of company cheques if he was going away on business for any length of time, so that Staebler was still able to issue cheques to suppliers and the like in his absence," explained Ms Clarke.

"However, he had not authorised Staebler to write either of these two cheques to himself and could think of no reason as to what the cheques were for."

Mr. Griffith reported his concerns to the Police Fraud Unit, along with subsequent discoveries of additional suspicious transactions.

The defendant was arrested and participated in what Ms Clarke described as a "very frank and open interview" with the Police. He admitted stealing around $150,000 from the company over a two year period by utilising his access to pre-signed cheques, credit card terminals and the payroll.

"Staebler stated that he and his wife Amanda had purchased a property in Boca Raton, Florida, with the intention of 'flipping' it quickly for a profit. However, they had encountered numerous problems with regard to contractors and damage sustained during a hurricane," said Ms Clarke.

"The house had become something of a money pit and this, coupled with the fact that Staebler and his new wife had a taste for the good things in life, meant that the couple's outgoings far exceeded their incomings each month.

"Most of the stolen funds, however, were being channeled into the Florida property, in order to finish the renovations."

Staebler was released on Police bail pending further investigations — and fired from his job.

On November 13 2007, said Ms Clarke, Mr. Griffith made a further complaint to the Police after he discovered a US dollar account for Surf Side Beach Club, held with J.P Morgan Chase Bank, had been looted of funds via nine cheques written to Staebler.

"Investigations revealed that the defendant would ask Ms Bryony Harvey, Surf Side's General Manager, to sign blank cheques in advance on the basis that it was more convenient for him. Ms Harvey agreed to do so, but was unaware that the defendant was writing the cheques out to himself and cashing them," explained the prosecutor.

Two days later, Police received information that Staebler had been detained at the airport while attempting to fly out of Bermuda on a one-way ticket to California via the Turks and Caicos Islands. He was charged and remanded into custody.

Defence lawyer Mark Pettingill said his client was remorseful for what he'd done, and for the devastating impact it had on his family.

He pointed out he had assisted the Police by frank disclosure of his crimes, and urged the judge to take into account his guilty pleas.

Mr. Pettingill said Staebler used some of the stolen funds to spoil his wife with treats as a result of a skin cancer diagnosis four years ago, for which she is now in remission.

He added that he has already paid $29,266.29 back, which is the best he has been able to do so far.

Staebler said: "I did not mean to do this. I did not plan to do this. I did get myself in a bad financial position. I tried to get myself out of it by borrowing money but it was ultimately through desperation that I committed this crime. There was no excuse for what I did, and no-one to blame but myself."

In a statement after the four year sentence was passed, Mr. Griffith said: "Markus Staebler was an intelligent, hardworking and very capable member of the management team of Bermuda Resort Hotels. He was also placed in a position of ultimate trust.

"We are still unaware what real motives he had for stealing huge sums of money from the company. No doubt he will have the rest of his life to ponder why he chose to do such damage to the company he worked for, as well as to his career.

"The past nine months has been a challenging period for the company and the focus has been to regroup, as well as re-establish the integrity of the financial administration of the company — we are moving on. We expect Markus Staebler to do the right thing to achieve full closure of this matter."