FROM STAFF REPORTS
The owner of a local travel agency faces six felony charges in connection with a scheme to defraud a group of seniors following an investigation by the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office.
Charles Eric Johnson, 43, of Birchwood Road, Statesville, faces six counts of obtaining property by false pretenses. Sheriff Darren Campbell announced his arrest in a news release.
The ICSO began investigating on July 26, 2023, after an 83-year-old woman reported that she and other seniors had been scammed after booking an Alaskan cruise through a travel agency located in Statesville.
One day before the scheduled departure date the owner of the travel agency cancelled the trip due to personal reasons, the woman said, and the owner refused to issue an immediate refund.
The case was assigned to Detective J. Roberts, who is assigned to the ICSO Economic Crimes Unit.
During the investigation, the detective identified Charles Johnson as the owner of Carolina Blue Tours.
Throughout the investigation, additional victims were identified and interviewed. The detective determined that Johnson had taken payments in excess of $25,000 from all of the involved individuals, according to the news release.
Search warrants were obtained for Johnson’s financial records as well as his company’s account history with Royal Caribbean, the cruise line hosting the Alaskan cruise.
Upon receiving and reviewing Johnson’s financial records, Detective Roberts discovered that the suspect had been transferring business funds into his personal accounts and funding personal trips from his business account, the sheriff said.
The investigation also revealed that Johnson had knowingly filed a fraudulent dispute with his financial institution in which he denied taking a personal trip to New York, which led to him to receive approximately $4,030 as a result of the fraudulent dispute, according to the news release.
During a review of Johnson’s account history with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, the detective determined Johnson had never booked reservations for all of the victims who had paid for the Alaskan cruise, according to the news release.
The detective also determined that Johnson went on the cruise himself after informing all of the victims that the cruise had been cancelled, the sheriff said.
As a result of the investigation, Johnson was arrested on December 19, 2023, and transported to the Iredell County Detention Center. Magistrate Chambers set his bond at $6,000.
Is that $25,00 from each of the victims or total. Either way, $25,000 plus the $4k+ is a lot of money and his bail was ONLY $6,00!!! That is pathetic! If anyone reading this has parents who are elderly and living off of fixed incomes, l pray this infuriates you! Anyone who can take advantage of children, individuals with special needs, and/or the elderly have a very special judgment in store for them later down the line.
PLEASE, PLEASE tell your elderly parents of this SCAM and warn them not to give money to anyone over the phone or anyone who doesn’t have proper credentials.
This is one of the MOST CRUEL acts of crime l have heard of against the elderly in a long time. I pray that he gets the full extent of punishment and l pray that the others who were working for the “travel agency” also get punishment to the fullest degree possible if they knew of the SCAM.
And the fact that he was working for a Christian based restaurant and taking my orders all the while doing this makes me sick on my stomach!
(Disclaimer: innocent until proven guilty bit it looks like a pretty air tight case here. All l have said bears in mind that these are alleged allegations based on a LONG and in depth investigation.)