Oct. 27, 2011--BRIDGEPORT -- A former manager of the downtown Holiday Inn was arrested Wednesday after police say he was found to have stolen $78,000 from the hotel.

William Mower, 44, was arrested by Detective Frank Podpolucha at his East Broadway, Milford, home, police said. He was charged with one count of first-degree larceny and was expected to post bond later Wednesday.

A representative for the Trefz Corp., which owns the hotel, did not immediately return calls for comment. Mower's LinkedIn profile lists him as the "front office manager."

According to the arrest warrant affidavit of Detective George Vann, detectives were called Aug. 23 to the offices of the Trefz Corp. on Middle Street on an embezzlement complaint. Christian and Ernie Trefz told detectives it had just been discovered that Mower had been stealing from the hotel, the affidavit states.

The affidavit states that a review of the hotel's accounts showed that between July 2009 and Aug. 23 of this year, Mower had been converting booking payments made through the Holiday Inn reservation system and various Internet travel sites such as Hotel.com for his personal use. The affidavit states that Mower was also taking non-refundable deposits from cancelled banquet functions for a total theft of $78,440.51.

Police said when they confronted Mower, he confessed to taking the money.

"I'm going through a rough patch and didn't know what else to do. I took the money to pay bills," police said he told them.

They said Mowers was subsequently fired from the hotel.

Contact Daniel Tepfer at 203-330-6308 or [email protected]. Follow him on twitter.com/dantepfer.

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