STATESVILLE, N.C. — A Statesville, North Carolina, man has been arrested and charged with six counts of felony obtaining property by false pretense after scamming multiple elderly victims out of money for an Alaskan cruise that never happened.
In July 2023, an 83-year-old victim filed a fraud report with the Iredell County Sheriff's Office stating that she and other elderly victims were scammed out of money after booking an Alaskan Cruise with a Statesville travel agency.
The victim said that a day before the cruise was scheduled to depart, the owner of the travel agency canceled the cruise and did not issue an immediate refund.
After an investigation, a detective with the sheriff's office identified 43-year-old Charles Johnson, who owned Carolina Blue Tours, a travel agency in Statesville.
Officials identified other victims and discovered that Johnson had allegedly taken over $25,0000 in payments from all of the victims involved in the scam. Johnson's financial records showed that he was transferring money from his business to his personal accounts and paying for personal trips with business funds.
Investigators also discovered that Johnson did not book reservations for all of the customers who had paid for an Alaskan cruise.
In fact, Johnson went on the cruise himself after telling the victims that it was canceled.
Johnson was arrested on Dec. 19 and issued a $6,000 secured bond.