Woman posing as travel agent swindles thousands from NC clients, officials say
A woman was found guilty of posing as a travel agent and defrauding customers out of thousands of dollars, North Carolina officials say.
Julie Ann Mincey, a 58-year-old from New Bern, faces up to five years in prison and has been ordered to pay $53,402.58 in restitution, according to an Aug. 9 statement from Craven County District Attorney Scott Thomas.
A Craven County jury found Mincey guilty on nine counts of felony embezzlement and one count of obtaining property by false pretenses.
Officials say Mincey operated a travel agency and accepted thousands of dollars from clients after promising to secure travel packages around the world on their behalf. However, as clients’ departure dates approached in September 2018, they learned that there were no travel packages. The woman was unable to provide an explanation to customers.
Investigators say Mincey’s business accounts show that between August 2017 and September 2018, she used customer funds to make payments on personal credit cards, on a vehicle for an associate and to fund her personal bank account.
Mincey never reimbursed her customers, and many clients testified that they had not seen or heard from her since September 2018, the statement says.
New Bern is about 115 miles southeast of Raleigh.
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