Calliope Rocky Saaga, a travel agent working under the name of Present America Tours, LLC, came into contact with the Southside High School Band Boosters of Fort Smith, Arkansas in January 2011. The travel agent was hired to help the band plan a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Hawaii to play performances across Hawaii including the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor. According to News-Leader , the trip was to take place in June of 2012.
The trip to Hawaii was going to be no small undertaking. Therefore, the band boosters put all the details in the hands of the “experienced” travel agent. Saaga was supposed to take care of booking airfare, lodging, transportation, meals, tours, and travel insurance for over 300 students and chaperons.
The News-Leader reports that the band boosters paid Calliope via wire transfer and wired 12 payments of $30,000 each between February 2011 and January 2012. However, after the last payment was received, the band director stopped receiving calls from their travel agent. Subsequently, the band director sent an email to all the families with the bad news.
In total, the band lost over $360,000 to Calliope and his fraudulent travel agency. A federal investigation by the US Attorney found that Calliope had used all the money for personal affairs and did not make a single reservation for the band. In fact, Saaga used the money for a variety of personal trips including gambling in Las Vegas, international travel to Samoa, and a trip to Disneyland. Meanwhile, the Southside High School Band cancelled their trip to Hawaii and were unable to play on the USS Missouri as intended.
Fortunately in May of 2013, the US Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas filed charges. According to KFSM , Saaga came to US Magistrate Court before Judge James Marschewski on a three-count indictment for a wire fraud scheme this afternoon, June 9.
“This malicious scheme not only affected Southside High School, but innocent students and parents as well, said FBI Special Agent David Resch.”
If Saaga is found guilty of the 12 counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering, he could spend up to 20 years in prison for each count. The US Attorney did note that the sentence is typically less than the maximum allowed. The Southside High School band, however, has not recovered any of their money and had to completely cancel their once-in-a-lifetime trip to Hawaii.
Similarly, this month a family lost $300,000 to Nigerian email fraudsters .
Do you use a travel agent? Would you expect it to be so easy for a travel agent to steal from a band like this?
