South Bay travel agent found guilty for stealing $200K, not booking trips to Hawaii

SAN JOSE – A South Bay travel agent has been convicted just after she collected $200,000 from consumers and failed to guide their trips, prosecutors stated.

In accordance to the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office, Wendy Wong pleaded no contest final week to rates of failing to return income for travel providers not furnished and illegally withdrawing from shopper believe in accounts.

Prosecutors claimed Wong, a previous Milpitas resident, operated a small business termed Residence of Aloha Hawaii. The business shut in August of 2019 right after what was described as a “long line” of victims came ahead to report that their vacation strategies ended up ruined and cash was lacking.

“The defendant abused her position of rely on and disrupted the life of many families in our neighborhood,” Deputy District Lawyer Tamalca Harris stated.  “We are grateful to the victims who came ahead.”

The District Attorney’s business office stated Wong will be capable to keep away from jail time and be sentenced to two years’ probation if she pays $155,000 in restitution asked for by shoppers ahead of sentencing.

If Wong does not pay restitution ahead of her sentencing on November 4, she will obtain a sentence of two decades, consisting of a person yr in county jail and one yr of required supervision.

According to prosecutors, while sellers of journey in California are required to sign-up with the point out Legal professional General’s Office environment, Wong was not registered. Customers can look at to see if a seller is registered by checking out https://oag.ca.gov/journey.