Criminal proceedings will continue against St. Thomas travel agent Robert Starr, who was arrested Friday and charged with embezzlement, obtaining money under false pretenses and writing worthless checks.
The 28-year-old Starr, who owned and operated Bayside Travel Inc., was taken into custody by the V.I. Justice Department after it received a pair of complaints from people who tried to purchase travel tickets from him.
According to the complaint filed with the court, on two occasions Starr allegedly accepted money from clients but did not make any travel reservations for them.
In one instance, a man named John Gibson used a credit card to pay Starr $1,250 for two round-trip tickets to London; however, when Gibson's daughter called the airline to confirm the reservations a month later, she was told they had never been made, the complaint says.
In the second case, St. Thomas resident Jens Jensen, who is Gibson's son-in-law, paid $1,300 for three plane tickets but never received them.
According to the complaint, Starr sent Jensen and Gibson a worthless refund check for $3,000. The complaint alleges Starr knew he had less than $100 in his account when he wrote the check.
In three other instances, according to Justice Department investigator Louis Penn, people were sold one-way tickets. Not realizing it, they traveled to their destinations and when they tried to return, found they had to purchase new one-way tickets.
Starr is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday, July 8.