Missouri AG files suit over school band trip to Hawaii

By Associated Press

POSTED: 10:26 a.m. HST, May 05, 2012
LAST UPDATED: 06:43 p.m. HST, May 05, 2012

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. >> Attorney General Chris Koster has sued a Utah-based travel agency to recover about $360,000 for a southwestern Missouri high school band.

Koster's office says Present America Tours LLC accepted the money from the Willard High School band for a planned summer trip to Hawaii. But the school canceled the trip after the company stopped returning phone calls and emails.

A phone number for the company — with a Hawaii area code — was disconnected Friday.

The Missouri school wasn't alone in its problems with Present America Tours. The Southside High School Rebel Band in Fort Smith, Ark., also scrubbed a summer trip to Hawaii after paying the company more than $250,000.

Koster says a Missouri judge on Friday issued an order freezing some bank accounts of the travel agency's owner.

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Manapua_Man wrote:

I feel bad for the band's Seniors. I hope they throw the book at this crooked travel agency.

on May 5,2012 | 02:04PM

false wrote:

Suing the travel agency is correct but don't expect Hawaii residents to bail them out.

on May 5,2012 | 02:28PM

kailua000 wrote:

Its not a crime that happened in Hawaii.

on May 5,2012 | 04:46PM

iwanaknow wrote:

So..........Oppie Saaga is in deep kim-chee. Rumor has it he's hiding in Western Samoa with 5 bounty hunters looking for him since the reward is $70,000.00.....Time will tell........He was living the high life in Highland Utah (Highland is like the Kahala of Honolulu) now we know why. sad sad sad Perhaps he can get his village chief to cough up the 1/2 million dollars to pay up?

on May 5,2012 | 03:25PM

saywhatyouthink wrote:

This is criminal, I hope this a**hole goes to jail for a long time. Then deport is a** back to where he came from.

on May 5,2012 | 04:48PM

Oye_Como_Va wrote:

Then he returns here to open up his new travel agency,,,,,good one! Since his crime was done against out of state people why doesn't get tried and if found guilty, do the time for his misdeeds there instead of here? We don't have room for him in our prisons. Besides our prosecuters & judges will just give him probation anyway.

on May 6,2012 | 01:38AM