Travelers Allegedly Swindled By Phony Modesto Travel Agent May Never See Their Money Returned
MODESTO (CBS13) — A travel agent accused of defrauding dozens of clients across California pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday.
In five cases, police say people were stranded in foreign countries after finding out their return tickets were either canceled or never bought.
Police say Sashi Pal left a lot of people high and dry. A Bay Area nonprofit allegedly lost $30,000 when they paid Pal for plane tickets he never purchased.
But there are dozens more alleged victims.
Jimmy Chandra tried taking his family to Fiji. Instead, the Sacramento man angrily admits he got taken for a ride, he says, by a phony travel agent who stole more than $5,000 from him.
"I'm not a violent person, but those stuff [sic] made me so mad I'm probably gonna hit him. I was so pissed off," he said.
Pal ran SP Travel World out of an office next to his garage in Modesto. The woman living here now claims he slipped away in the middle of the night, owing her family money.
Pal ended up in the Stanislaus County Jail, after police say the travel agent tricked at least 50 victims out of a combined $130,000.
Chandra says his paperwork looked legitimate, but only 72 hours before the flight, he found out the tickets were never purchased.
In other cases, investigators say Pal gave his victims itineraries for flights that didn't even exist. He mainly targeted Fijian people like Chandra, who initially trusted a fellow countryman wouldn't do him wrong.
"I told him, too, this is America: you won't get away with it," Chandra said.
There were warning signs, including one-star reviews online calling Pal a "crook," and the F rating to the Better Business Bureau.
Pal's victims may never see their money. Police arrested the phony travel agent at his bankruptcy hearing. If he proves he's out of cash, his irate customers could be out of luck.
Pal pleaded not guilty, and his bail remained at $500,000.
