A 39-year-old St. Catherine Parish travel agent is accused of collecting more than $1 million from a group of teachers but failing to book vacations and not returning the money, and is under investigation for possible similar crimes in other parishes.
Dennis Falconer, from Waterloo District, Ewarton, St. Catherine, has been charged with six counts of fraudulent conversion.
Her agency is Bleu Sky JA Travel.
Her $100,000 bail was extended when she appeared in St. Catherine Parish Court on Tuesday.
Her next court date is Sept. 10, 2024.
However, Falconer was remanded in custody after leaving the dock, and police said she was under investigation for similar offences in other police stations.
In terms of the charges laid so far, the court heard several teachers from an Ewarton school paid Falconer $1.3 million to book 20 North Shore hotel rooms for Labor Day weekend in May.
He said he checked the date after receiving the money via bank transfer.
But on May 22, two days before the holiday was due to begin, she reportedly told teachers that the holiday was being cancelled.
The court was told Falconer told one of the teachers he had given the money to a third party, who cannot be named.
The matter was reported to Ewarton police and Falconer was arrested.
She was then questioned and examined in the presence of her lawyer before being charged.
– Rusbert Turner
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