Phony Tour Agents Bilked Travelers, Police Say

Two men posing as tour agents allegedly bilked several San Diego area residents through newspaper ads offering bogus airline tickets to Hawaii, police said Monday.

Nine people have reported giving money to the men, but officials believe others may have answered ads placed by Tom Welsh, 26, and Dave Burton , 39. Police said Welsh has been charged with operating a similar scam in Orange County.

According to San Diego police, the men took out ads offering round-trip tickets to Hawaii for $165. The classified ads appeared in the local edition of The Times and the San Diego Union in January and February, San Diego Police Detective Dennis Sadler said.

When would-be travelers called the phone number in the ad, one of the men arranged a meeting, often at the victim’s home or business, Sadler said. Other meetings were held at area hotels.

Those who met one of the men were told they could get an inexpensive airline ticket if they also booked a hotel room as part of a package deal. The rooms cost several hundred dollars. For example, one five-day stay was priced at $390, Sadler said.

Welsh and Burton allegedly took cash or checks for the air fare as a “deposit,” he said.

“They gave (the victims) vouchers for the money and told them to pick out the hotels and rooms they wanted,” Sadler said.

The would-be travelers were told to mail their choices to 4444 Convoy St., Suite 210-172, in Kearny Mesa. The Convoy Street address is a postal service box, Sadler said.

“They told them they would receive their tickets in the mail, but the tickets never arrived,” Sadler said.

The men allegedly used the company names Budget Tours or Cheap Thrills, Sadler said. They told the victims that they worked for Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays--a tour wholesaler--when they showed them the hotel price listings.

A Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays spokesman said that neither man has ever worked for the company. Ken Phillips said the company packages about 350 different types of Hawaiian tours. The company is based in Westlake Village, a community north of Los Angeles.

Sadler said the nine victims included married couples, a California Highway Patrol officer and two Navy wives who had planned to visit their husbands. Each person lost between $300 and $700.

Police were notified of the alleged scam after one person got tired of waiting for the tickets and called police, Sadler said.

That victim then called Burton and arranged to meet him Feb. 25 in Tierrasanta to have the money returned. When Burton showed up, police arrested him.

The case was treated as a petty theft, Sadler said. Burton was released and ordered to appear April 12 in Municipal Court.

But when detectives received the paper work on the case, they saw the potential for more victims, said detective Mark Taylor. He contacted the district attorney’s office but found no complaints against Burton or Budget Tours, the company named in the first complaint. In the meantime, the detectives received more reports on dealings with the men.

It was then police learned of Tom Welsh’s alleged involvement.

Taylor said that Welsh was arrested in Orange County a few months ago after allegedly operating a similar scam there.

Wayne Thompson, an Orange County deputy district attorney, said Welsh was arrested in December on misdemeanor theft charges. A month later, those charges were upgraded to grand theft.

Welsh, who was released on $10,000 bail, failed to appear at his arraignment on the felony charges Thursday, Thompson said, adding that an arrest warrant has been issued for Welsh. Thompson said more than 30 Orange County victims had turned over more than $5,000 to Welsh.

San Diego detectives are asking anyone who may have lost money to the men to call the Eastern Division at 495-7951.

“A lot of people may not report it because they think it’s petty, or they’re embarrassed,” Sadler said. “But we need to know even if they are embarrassed.”