Barbara Karen Herrington
DBA Southern Travel Charged With Travel Agent Fraud
March 27, 2008
Barbara Karen Herrington, AKA Lisa Mathias, originally from Michigan, now living and operating a travel agency in North Carolina has been arrested after turning herself in to police investigating a travel agency fraud scheme.
Herrington, age 42, is facing 59 counts for various charges including felony theft, theft of a value of more than $500 and identity theft.
Herrington was arrested and charged with six counts of felony financial identity fraud and one count of writing a worthless check after a Georgia woman claimed there was an unauthorized $1,000 charge on her credit card.
Police say one woman had a $1,000 deposit charged to her card in October for a Hawaiian cruise. Days later, more than $1,300 was charged to her card at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord.
Other victims say their credit card was used to pay a storage and moving van company, but their cruise was never paid for.
Police say there are hundreds of victims, many thinking they were taking a Norwegian Cruise Lines Hawaiian cruise, had their credit cards charged, but were unable to sail because they no reservations, or reservations were canceled because the balance due on the cruises was not paid.
Southern Travel owned by Herrington is based in Mooresville, North Carolina according to court documents. Yellow pages directory listing identifies the business contact information as Southern Travel LLC 181 North Main Street Mooresville, NC 28115-2525 Phone: (704) 660-7804. However, other reports say the office was located at 179 Gasoline Alley in Morresville, North Carolina.
Herrington also owned a North Carolina bridal business, Southern Bridal. But, that was not the first bridal company she owned, see below.
Herrington had offered vacations for $1025 that included roundtrip air fare from Baltimore, Maryland, two nights and three days at a hotel with a rental car in addition to the Hawaiian cruise.
Ms Herrington promoted the package saying customers only had to put down $500 to book the holiday, they pay the balance within 30 days of departure. When customers tried to confirm their reservations with the cruise line, they had none.
Herrington’s version of events, according to her attorney, was that cruises got overbooked and some people didn’t get to go on the trips they’d planned to.
Police say credit card numbers collected in the scheme were used for a variety of purchases, including NASCAR tickets and trips for Herrington and others.
Police also say Herrington had convictions for obtaining property by false pretense, felony worthless checks and worthless checks on a closed account in North Carolina, and a pending charge in Michigan for fraudulent activities.
Norwegian Cruise Line officials estimate the company has lost about $250,000 because of people canceling trips set up with Southern Travel, Blocker said.
A recording on Southern Travel’s answering machine said customers looking for refunds should e-mail requests to southerntravel24@yahoo.com
THE BRIDAL SHOP FIASCO
This is where travel agent Barbara Herrington's story doesn't seem to wash, that this was all an innocent mistake of business gone wrong, not fraud. Cruise Bruise has learned that a bridal shop in Dexter, Michigan closed after being open for less than a year. That bridal shop, Dexter Bridal & Formal Wear, 7050 Dexter-Ann Arbor Road was owned by a woman known as Barbara Littlefield.
The bridal shop has been taken over by United Bank & Trust and is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department.
Court papers in two recently filed lawsuits by creditors show mounting debt and a series of bounced checks that have led to police reports being filed and the civil suits. Owner Barbara Littlefield said that she was unable to pay the loan United Bank provided to fund the business, which opened in March 2007.
A lawsuit filed by United Bank claims Littlefield defaulted on a $75,000 business loan and owes more than $90,000 with interest and fees. The bank obtained a court injunction to stop Littlefield from using any funds potentially tied to the loan and took custody of the store, records show.
In another suit, Barbara Littlefield and Dexter resident Craig Flocken are accused of owing more than $15,600 on a 2003 Chevy Trailblazer purchased for the business.
Flocken, an Ann Arbor Police sergeant, sold his share of the business to Barbara Littlefield. Littlefield says she was partnering with Flocken's wife, Melissa Flocken.
According to a search warrant affidavit included in the bank lawsuit, one of Littlefield's customers filed a police report in October after learning about a $337 unauthorized purchase with her credit card at a Lansing, Michigan store.
Investigators also learned of a company that reported Littlefield wrote more than $5,000 in checks that bounced.
The warrant indicates Barbara Littlefield told police she was in the process of changing her name to Barbara Cooper. Court records show she is also known as Barbara Herrington. There are also records connecting her to Fenton, MI.
Court records show Barbara Littlefield, under the name Barbara Herrington, was convicted of fraud, publishing worthless checks and obtaining false identification in North Carolina in May. She was placed on probation for three years.
The Washtenaw County, Michigan Sheriff's Department would only confirm that an investigation is ongoing, and nothing else. "We're currently investigating an alleged embezzlement in Dexter; that's the only thing official I can tell you," said Cmdr. Dave Egeler, the department's public information officer.
BEFORE DEXTER MICHIGAN
When Barbara Littlefield opened the Dexter, Michigan bridal shop she told the local newspaper she and her family recently relocated from the San Francisco Bay, California area. She said how much she loved the area, and moved there because she had family there and the schools were great. Then, a year later she packed up and moved to North Carolina. That is alot of mileage for children in a short period of time, and a lot of schools.
