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Ex-travel agency staff gets probation for stealing
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Posted on Dec 03 2008
The Superior Court yesterday handed down a one-year probation sentence on a former travel agency employee who was found to have pocketed a customer’s $948.50 payment for an airline ticket.
Associate Judge David A. Wiseman placed Susan Pascua on probation for one year and ordered her to pay $948.50 in restitution to MITA Travel Agency, for theft by failure to make required disposition of funds.
Wiseman ordered Pascua to pay a $150 fine, $25 court assessment fee, and $100 in probation fee.
The judge also required the defendant to perform 100 hours of community service.
The Attorney General’s Office charged Pascua with one count of theft by deception and one count of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received.
The defendant entered a plea agreement with the AGO. She pleaded guilty to one count of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds. The court dismissed the other count.
The agreement stated that Pascua, while working at MITA, received money from a customer on Feb. 25, 2008, and used it for personal use.
A police officer stated in his report that MITA Travel terminated Pascua on March 13, 2008 for alleged misappropriation of company funds.
Last April, MITA Travel sought police’s help after learning that Pascua also stole money from the company last Feb. 25.
Investigation showed that a customer had gone to MITA on Feb. 25 to purchase an airline ticket to Bangladesh in the amount of $948.50.
When the customer went to MITA to pick up his ticket, the agency discovered through their computer records that, although the customer had already paid in the morning, the ticket was canceled in the afternoon.
Records show that it was Pascua who made the travel arrangements and also canceled it.
When confronted by the company, Pascua promised to return to the office to pay the amount.
On April 11, 2008, police arrested the defendant at the airport.
