Closed Travel Agency Seeks Shelter From Its Creditors : Rancho Palos Verdes: Apollo Travel files under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. More than 140 customers have reported losses totaling $340,000.

A South Bay travel agency that left dozens of travelers in the lurch when it closed its doors earlier this month has filed for protection under federal bankruptcy law, an attorney for the firm said Thursday.

In addition, Karen Susan Reindle, owner of Apollo Travel in Rancho Palos Verdes, has filed under Chapter 7, which covers personal bankruptcies, attorney Henri Rick Schuller said. The firm’s request was filed under Chapter 11, which usually involves an effort to reorganize with court approval.

More than 140 customers of the popular agency, which was a fixture on Western Avenue for nearly two decades before its closure on July 3, have reported losses totaling $340,000 to Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators, Sgt. William Snyder said. Most customers say they paid cash advances of $2,000 to $3,000 for a variety of vacations, but never received tickets.

The agency’s unexpected closure ended dreams of honeymoon trips to the Caribbean and a golden anniversary cruise to Alaska involving 50 people.

Although detectives have discussed possible charges of criminal fraud with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, no case has been filed, Snyder said. Investigators have been receiving new complaints about Apollo every day, he said.

In a letter to The Times, Schuller complained that Apollo’s financial troubles have been “transformed into an allegedly sinister scenario.”

“Things somehow are getting blown out of proportion,” Schuller said in an interview. “Any business, if you have a period that is excessively slow, and this is especially true in the travel industry, the bills continue to come in and must be paid. . . . The bills were being paid, and that evidences an attempt to keep the business going so that the doors would be open.

“What’s unfortunate is that the consumers feel that they’ve been defrauded or that there was an intent to do this,” he said.

In an effort to save her business, Schuller said, Reindle channeled more than $100,000 of her own money into the agency.

Her boyfriend, Bud Felando, also made loans to the business “in the several hundred thousand dollars range” to keep Apollo Travel afloat, Schuller said.

Schuller denied earlier reports that Felando, a cousin of state Assemblyman Gerald N. Felando (R-San Pedro), is Reindle’s business associate.

“He’s been trying to help her on this, and he’s still trying to help, but he is not an owner at all,” Schuller said. “He is only a creditor. (Reindle) is the sole shareholder.”

Reindle has not been able to assess how much money is owed and to whom, because sheriff’s investigators confiscated all of the business records for Subeelyn Enterprises Inc., which has been doing business as Apollo Travel, Schuller said.

Customers who believe the agency owes them money should file a claim against Subeelyn Enterprises with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Central District in Los Angeles and forward a copy of the claim to his office, Schuller said.

“We are willing to help them establish whether they have any recourse, such as trip cancellation insurance they may not even know about, or something through their homeowner’s policy,” Schuller said.