An out-of-state travel agency owner was ordered to pay back stolen funds to Florida victims.
During a hearing in Florida, defendant Robert Goodwin entered no contest pleas to two counts of Grand Theft over $100,000. He was then sentenced to time served, 180 days in jail, and 25 years of probation. Special conditions include $637,260 in restitution, which is the total amount of funds he misappropriated from Flagler College and the Seabreeze High School victims in Daytona Beach who cooperated with the investigation.
Goodwin paid a total of $194,000 in restitution upfront, to be split evenly ($97,000) between Flagler College and the Seabreeze High School victims.
Goodwin is the owner of the Massachusetts travel agency Stone and Compass Travel. The case was investigated by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
In 2023, a group of students and chaperones signed up with the agency for a nine-day class trip to Italy and Greece, which was to begin in June 2024. Each traveler paid a minimum of $3,550 in travel fees up front.
One month before the trip, the agency notified the students by email that it was going out of business and lacked the money to provide refunds. Shortly after, the agency’s website went down, and all previous contact phone numbers and email addresses were inactive.
The investigation revealed numerous other organizations were suing the agency for similar allegations, including Flagler College in St. Augustine.
“Folks must use due diligence when booking travel with brokers to ensure that their plans come to fruition,” State Attorney R.J. Larizza said following the sentencing. “In this case, the victims are fortunate that a sizable amount of restitution was paid up front.”
Assistant State Attorney Helen Schwartz successfully prosecuted the case for the State of Florida. The Honorable Elizabeth Blackburn heard the case and imposed sentence.
The post Travel Agency Owner Ordered to Pay Back Stolen Funds to Florida Victims appeared first on West Orlando News.
Source: West Orlando News
Published: 2026-08-04 16:30:00