The owner of the Jackson Heights business Expertravel Travel Agency was arraigned Tuesday for allegedly stealing more than $80,000 from more than 20 different victims. She allegedly used their credit card info to charge trips for other people and never booked travel arrangements she claimed to have made for customers.
Adriana Olivar-Munoz, 46, of Woodside, Queens is accused of “turning people’s dream vacations into living nightmares,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, noting that some victims arrived at airports to find flights they had paid for were never booked and the “itinerary confirmations” provided by Olivar-Munoz were bogus.
Many of the victims were Spanish speaking individuals who trusted the defendant “because she was from Colombia and spoke Spanish,” according to the DA.
The 20-count indictment includes five counts of grand larceny, three counts of identity theft and numerous other charges involving crimes said to occur between Dec. 1, 2012 and Dec. 31, 2014. Two travel agencies, Costmar Travel Agency and Skylink, were also allegedly defrauded by Olivar-Munoz.
The attorney for Olivar-Munoz, who was arrested in September and remains in jail in lieu of $5,000 bail, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Anyone who was a victim or knows someone who was a victim of Olivar-Munoz’s alleged schemes is asked to call the Queens District Attorney’s Economic Crimes Bureau at 718-286-6673.
