September 17, 2011

Earthquake ended hotel employee's thefts

By David Clarkson at the Nga Hau e Wha marae

The February 22 earthquake put an end to Gail Denise Newburn?s fiddling of the books at the Crowne Plaza hotel, and the 53-year-old faced 14 charges yesterday.

But the earthquake may also mean she can pay back the $109,231 she stole. She and her husband have a red-zone house and are looking to accept the Government pay-out.

Newburn pleaded guilty to six charges of theft by a person in a special relationship?? she was the hotel?s accounts receivable officer?? and eight charges of dishonestly using documents.

Judge Alistair Garland heard her guilty pleas in the Christchurch District Court at the Nga Hau e Wha marae and remanded her on bail to February 3, at Rangiora, for a pre-sentence report and sentence.

He asked for the report to cover her suitability for home detention but said that was not necessarily an indication of the outcome.

?Obviously, if you pay reparation in full, that will be a substantial mitigating factor which the court will take into account. Promises of reparation have been made before by many people and then never come to pass,? he said.

Newburn was employed at the hotel from 1997 until June this year, and part of her duties was handling a voucher system for large regular customers who had their own accounts.

She manipulated the system, taking money that was paid in and then covering the transactions with a negative cash payment to give the appearance of a zero cash total.

This fiddling remained undetected by the management credit control meetings as long as she moved the transaction to another account within 90 days.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Mark Berryman told the court: ?The Crowne Plaza was forced to close after the February 22 earthquake, with the result that the cash flow stopped and there was no new money that could be used to cover the money taken. She resigned on June 28 and when her role was taken over the anomalies were discovered in relation to the vouchers.?

The judge was told that the financial pain had not stopped there for the hotel.

Further to the actual loss of money, the Crown Plaza has also suffered further financial losses to customers who were unable to use their vouchers after the earthquake and requested a refund. ?That effectively is costing the Crowne Plaza twice,? said Berryman.

The police also detailed a series of transactions she made under her alias of Gail Curwood, transferring money from the hotel into her own credit card accounts.

Defence counsel Elizabeth Bulger said there was a prospect of reparation being paid to the hotel in full because the woman and her husband owned a house which was red-zoned and they were eligible for the Government buy-out offer. She anticipated the money would be available and paid out before sentencing.

She said Newburn provided care for her husband who was disabled with a stroke.