A former San Diego travel agent who embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars paid by more than 150 parents for school trips canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic was arrested Monday at his six-month-old home. He was sentenced to detention and six months' probation.
Marie Colette Martin, 53, is accused of failing to refund the money she received to her parents after her trip was canceled and instead using it for personal expenses.
According to the California Attorney General's Office, Martin solicited money from parents at nine schools in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The trip was scheduled to send eighth-graders from these schools to Washington, D.C., and other East Coast locations in 2020, but the pandemic prevented the trip from taking place.
The attorney general's office said her parents asked for a refund, but Martin refused and instead used the money for personal uses such as credit card purchases, rent and art.
Prosecutors said she could not refund the money to her parents because she was already “having financial problems and commingling with client funds” and was using their funds for personal expenses. .
Mr. Martin, jointly prosecuted by the California Attorney General's Office and the San Diego County District Attorney's Office, pleaded guilty to one felony count of failure to repay funds as a travel seller. She can later petition the court to reduce her conviction to a misdemeanor.
Prosecutors said the crime prohibited her from registering as a travel sales agent for seven years.
Martin had already paid about $256,000 in restitution at the time of Monday's sentencing hearing.
Prosecutors said some of that money will go to victims, while others have already been refunded through the Travel Consumer Relief Corporation. The corporation assists consumers who have suffered losses for a variety of reasons, including sellers not traveling to provide services.
