Ex-Asbury Ocean Club, Asbury Lanes Manager Charged With Theft

ASBURY PARK – An employee of an Asbury Park hotel was arrested and charged with theft after stealing more than $400,000 from the business, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced on Wednesday.

Larry Dembrun,Jr. 40, of Montclair was arrested Tuesday by members of the Asbury Park Police Department and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office following an investigation, according to the MCPO.

He was charged with theft of more than $400,000.00 from his employer, Salt Hotels, the owner of the Asbury Hotel, Asbury Lanes, and the Asbury Ocean Club, all located in Asbury Park. Dembrun’s most recent position with the company was as regional manager, which gave him responsibility for managing all three facilities, the MCPO said. He has since been terminated.

The investigation began when the Asbury Park Police Department was initially contacted by hotel executives on June 27, 2020 after an internal audit revealed that Dembrun had written numerous checks to pay a personal credit card bill, the MCPO said.

He had also issued unauthorized checks to himself and to members of the hotel staff, the MCPO said.

Following a thorough review of the operating/expense accounts for the hotel, as well as Dembrun’s personal bank accounts, the investigators determined that between January of 2018 and June of 2020, he stole $486,882.17 from the company.

Dembrun accomplished the theft in a variety of ways. Unauthorized checks written from the Asbury Hotel‘s operating account to pay his personal American Express bills totaled $159,898.32, the MCPO said.

He made cash withdrawals from the operating account that totaled $165,144.25. He then deposited the withdrawn cash in incremental amounts into his personal checking account, the MCPO said.

He also issued unauthorized payroll checks to himself in the amount of $12,603.00, the MCPO said.

Dembrun also took cash from the Asbury Lanes expense account in the amount of $51,150, and kept cash that should have been deposited in the amount of $6,791.25. Finally, he wrote “bonus” and “incentive” checks to hotel staff totaling $91, 295.00, the MCPO said. All of these acts were unauthorized and violated established corporate policy.

If convicted of second degree theft, Dembrun faces up to ten years in prison.