Travel agent pleads
guilty in tour scam

Two groups did not receive
China tours paid for in advance

A former travel agent accused of selling bogus travel tours to China to isle residents, and then leaving them stranded once they got there, has pleaded guilty.

Gautier Tienni Fang, 73, pleaded guilty to nine counts of second-degree theft and pleaded no contest to a single count of money laundering in Circuit Court.

According to prosecutors, Fang sold $140,000 worth of tour packages to two groups for trips planned in September 1998. One group arrived in China only to be told that no payments had been forwarded to the tour operator there. They were told they would have to pay the local tour operator if they wanted to continue their trip.

The second group was told two or three days before it left on its trip that the tour had been canceled.

The victims did not report the matter to police right away because Fang led them to believe he would pay them back, Deputy Prosecutor Chris Van Marter said.

"He told many victims that he diverted their money into his personal overseas investments and thought they would pay off and enable him to pay the tour operators in China," Van Marter said. "He claimed the investments never paid off, and he didn't pay them back."

Despite several meetings with Fang and his attorney, it became apparent to the victims that he was misleading them about paying them back, and they finally reported the matter to police in 1999, he said.

Of the nine individuals who were defrauded, some paid for the tours using credit cards and were partially reimbursed by their credit card companies. Those who paid with personal checks have yet to see any of their money, Van Marter said.

The state will ask that Fang pay restitution in an amount to be determined later. Fang's public defender could not be reached for comment.

Fang was indicted in September 2001, but he left the state and was not located until 2004, when he was extradited from Los Angeles.

Fang faces a maximum five years in prison for each of the theft counts and 10 years in prison for the money laundering. Fang, who has been in custody since his arrest last fall, will be sentenced Aug. 23.