Pomona hotel manager gets 4 years for embezzlement

Pictured: Gehner in a March 31, 2005 file photo by Staff Photographer Will Lester.

POMONA -- A man convicted of stealing nearly $300,000 from a hotel he managed was sentenced to four years and four months in state prison today in Pomona Superior Court.

Heinz Juergen Gehner, 68, former manager of the Shilo Inn in Pomona, was also ordered to pay about $311,000 in restitution to the hotel.

Gehner was arrested Oct. 13 after authorities accused him of using several schemes to embezzle money and services from the Temple Avenue hotel. He pleaded no contest last month to three counts of grand theft.

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Here's a profile of Gehner by Daily Bulletin reporter Imani Tate. The story was published in an April, 22, 2005 issue of City News.

(Original headline unavailable)

Heinz J. Gehner of Pomona was warned a hotel hospitality management job was a 24/7 operation going 365 days a year and 366 in a leap year.

But the warning didn't deter the general manager of the Shilo Hilltop Suites and Shilo Inn in Pomona from plunging feet and heart first into the profession he regards as more than service.

"Some people said it is a service industry and why would you want to be a servant," Gehner said, chuckling at what he regards as preposterous. "I don't think of it like that. I think of it as an opportunity to make people feel good and to help them.

"I tell my staff, I'm not the one who signs your paycheck," he said. "Look at everyone who walks through that door as the one who signs your paycheck."

And when officials from the Friends of the Diamond Bar Library walked through his door, Gehner immediately assured them he would enthusiastically support their fund-raising efforts to increase literacy and library services offered at the local branch of the Los Angeles County Library System.

In 1993, the Shilo Inn was the site for the friends' first wine soiree, its largest fund-raiser to generate dollars for library books, computers, equipment, supplies, programs and capital projects. The Shilo Hilltop Suites, located across the street from the inn, hosted the wine-and-food-tasting event from 1994 to 2004 when the new Diamond Bar Center opened and became the fund-raiser's new venue.

The hotel executive continues his support of the soiree. His food services staff adds to culinary samples donated by Graber Olive House, The Whole Enchilada, Just Like Moms, Holiday Inn Select, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Kyala, Al Jibani Market, the Coffee Klatch and other restaurants. The wine for the soiree is donated from the New World International Wine Competition.

Tickets for the May 1 event, to be held from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Diamond Bar Center, are $45 in advance and $55 at the door. Information and reservations: (909) 861-2002.

Rick Rogers, commissioner for the Los Angeles City Employees Retirement System board of administration, serves as general chairman of the program which will includes a silent auction of donated items from Inland Valley businesses and Southern California attractions, an art exhibit and neighborly socializing.

"I actually like wine, to tell you the truth," Gehner quipped, admitting he didn't initially know the extent of the fund-raising effort.

He did know literacy is important and he has loved service since he was a boy observing his father's willingness to help others. His diplomatic dad, Heinz G. Gehner, frequently volunteered in community programs wherever his travels as a member of the German consul took him, wife Olli and sons Heinz J. and Claus.

Young Heinz, 63, was born in Berlin, but he loved moving around the world because of his father's job as a member of the German diplomatic corps. And he liked hotels.

The supporter of literacy and knowledge ironically found his professional calling in a book.

"I read "Be My Guest' by Conrad Hilton when I was 16 and I was impressed," Gehner recalled. "I had loved moving and traveling around with my parents and thought it was marvelous that someone could work in this industry and move around with it. I thought it would be an enjoyable profession."

After graduating from a private German high school in the small southwestern African nation of Windhoek, the elder Gehner took his older son to talk with the German Hotel and Motel Association executive director. This man explained the advantages and disadvantages of the industry to the teenager.

"I was forewarned, but not reluctant," Gehner said. "I liked the idea of moving around, seeing new things, having new adventures, meeting new people. Every day is different in this industry. Sitting behind a desk or in front of a computer is not my idea of fun."

Gehner graduated from the Salzburger Hotel Management College in the small Austrian town where the famous film "The Sound of Music" was set. Again thinking about the book that had inspired his career, he went to work for the Hilton Hotel Corp., starting as a front office manager in Portland, Oregon.

He spent 20 years with the Hilton, working in lower management positions in Portland, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Omaha before landing his first general managerial job in Seattle and becoming the Hilton's youngest general manager at age 28. He worked for the Renaissance Hotels in Springfield, Illinois and Long Beach for seven years before joining the Shilo Inns 13 years ago as general manager of the Pomona hotels.

His educator/wife, Diane, had a career easily adaptable to moving. She currently teaches fourth and fifth-grade students at Nevin Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles. Gehner has six children. His eldest son, Heinz J. III, followed in his father's footsteps and serves as general manager of the Extended Stay of America Hotel in Bothel, Washington.

Wherever Gehner has lived and worked, he has immeshed himself in the community as an active volunteer. His office walls are covered with awards, photos and momentos commending his philanthropic spirit.

While in Pasadena, he served on the Tournament of Roses Association board. Here in the Inland Valley, he has served as president of the Diamond Bar Chamber of Commerce and the Diamond Bar Rotary Club. His volunteerism has additionally included the Pomona-Diamond Bar YMCA and Mt. San Antonio College Foundation.

"I think you owe it to the community you live in to give something back and make sure the community goes in the right direction," he reasoned. "My parents, especially my father, was always involved in whatever city where we lived. He was my role model for everything. Most assuredly, I think above all he was honest, sometimes to a fault because he called it like it is and a couple of times got into trouble with the German foreign office.

"He'd make statements and get involved in things his superiors didn't feel were politically expedient, but his concerns about other people in the world were things he felt strongly. He was a dedicated family man. I've tried to be like him and my mom who taught me stick-to-it-ness and to always finish what you start."

Gehner's volunteerism has almost totally focused on children. He unashamedly admits he's super-sensitive about issues impacting them, so he feels he must do whatever he can to help make conditions better for them and prepare them for the future.

When the YMCA couldn't transport its young clients to summer field trips, Gehner sent Shilo vans and drivers to help so the children wouldn't be disappointed. He supports the library, service club scholarship programs and Mt. San Antonio College Foundation's charitable projects for students just because it is the good and right thing to do.

"There are a lot of young people who apply for entry-level jobs here at the hotel. When I see how ill-prepared these kids are for the grown-up and business world, I feel something needs to be done," he lamented. "We will be in trouble if this doesn't change.

"You can't ignore children and the community," Gehner warned. "If you ignore these things, we'll be in more trouble. Too many people think only of themselves, not even caring about their own children."

He advocates literacy and learning, not almost-daily testing of inconsequential details, so children grow up appreciating the arts and others' cultures, enjoy a fuller spectrum of knowledge about contemporary times and history and possess personal convictions about giving back to their communities and helping those in need.

"I don't think any human being can reach his or her full potential if he or she is not fully literate," Gehner declared.

"That's something we must give our young people if they are going to be competent and competitive in the world. They won't just be competing with their neighbors. They'll be competing with people from other countries. We have to work very hard to bring this thing back in the right direction.

"If you can't read, you won't be able to open up a can of vegetables," Gehner concluded.