A Burlington man with a history of defrauding businesses admitted last week to embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from a well-known South Hero restaurant.
Paul Hendler, 51, pleaded guilty on June 30 in U.S. District Court in Burlington to one felony count of forgery in a case involving the Blue Paddle Bistro and its spinoff eatery, Blue Paddle on the Bay, which has since closed.
Hendler is being held in the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans and is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 1, according to court documents.
A plea agreement between Hendler and federal prosecutors calls for Hendler to serve three years in prison, though he could face up to 10. He will have to pay back the money he stole, according to the agreement.
Blue Paddle co-owner Mandy Hotchkiss, who attended last week’s hearing, said it’s “a huge relief” to have justice after a four-year ordeal.
“I felt like a thousand pounds was lifted off my shoulders,” said Hotchkiss, who owns the bistro with Phoebe Bright, an award-winning chef.
According to Hotchkiss and court documents, Hendler embezzled between $95,000 and $150,000 from her businesses.
“Just seeing a judge say ‘I don’t trust you and you’re going away,’ I felt like crying because I was happy,” she said. “I was happy that we might see some of our money coming back because, as a small business, that would be helpful.”
One of Hendler’s lawyers, Brooks G. McArthur, declined via email to comment “until the case is complete, including sentencing.”
A federal grand jury in Burlington charged Hendler in January 2022 with forgery and making false statements, in violation of terms of his release on previous fraud charges from 2015.
Between 2019 and 2021, according to an indictment, Hendler worked on projects for After Noonies LLC, the business entity that operated the two South Hero restaurants.
Sometime in 2020, Hendler took the company’s checkbook, according to the indictment, which states that he “embezzled tens of thousands of dollars from the business by stealing cash receipts generated by the restaurants, forging the business owner’s signature on checks Hendler made out to himself, and by fraudulently inducing the owner to give him blank checks, signed by her, which Hendler then made payable to himself,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont.
The indictment also alleged that Hendler, who had been ordered to pay at least 10% of his monthly income toward roughly $555,000 in restitution obligations for previous charges, was underreporting his earnings.
As part of the plea agreement, the second charge was dropped.
Blue Paddle on the Bay closed in 2021.
Hendler formerly lived in South Hero and Taftsville. In 2015, he was sentenced to 27 months after pleading guilty to 14 charges of felony fraud related to defrauding several individuals and businesses.
As she awaits Hendler’s sentencing, Hotchkiss said she is grateful to customers for their continued support. The bistro has faced several challenges in recent years — from Covid-19-related closures and staffing woes to a winter freeze and flooding in February that closed the restaurant for more than three months.
The latest development is a sign of brighter times ahead, Hotchkiss said, whose goal is to be “the very best restaurant we can be and make as many people happy and continue putting out the best food.”
