HOUSTON – Dream vacations, birthday getaways -- people all over the country were disappointed to learn trips they paid for didn't exist.
When some of those victims called consumer expert Amy Davis, she followed the money trail that lead her right back to Houston.
Jesse Casares, 48, was not having a good day when Davis ran into him at the Harris County Courthouse.
"Have you ever actually booked a trip when you've taken people's money?" Davis asked him on his way into the courtroom for trial.
Casares was charged with a second DWI, but Davis wanted to talk with him about a Carnival cruise scheduled to leave Galveston on Jan. 9.
"We were ready to go," Marlo Washington told Davis.
Washington paid $1,352 to reserve spots for herself and eight girlfriends to celebrate her 60th birthday.
"I was very excited about that," she told Davis.
But after Washington paid her money, she learned there was no cruise leaving on that date.
"I said, 'Well, I'd like to get my money back,'" Washington said, recalling her conversation with an employee of Parkway Trip Experts by phone. "She said, 'That's absolutely out of the question. We don't do refunds.'"
It's the same story echoed on message boards all over the web -- dozens of complaints against more than a dozen travel agencies since 2012, all linked back to Jesse Casares and his ex-wife, 39-year-old Isabel Lozano.
She's currently on probation from an unrelated theft conviction last year, but she's not easy to track down. KPRC stopped by every address Lozano registered with Harris County as a business address. She listed her parent's home as the mailing address for her company, True Marketing Associates.
"Do you know how I could reach Isabel, your daughter?" Davis asked, the man who said he was her father.
"Uhh, she should be at work right now," he answered.
"Do you know what your daughter does for a living with Jesse?" Davis asked after the man told her she worked with Casares.
"Well, Jesse, he sells and buys and, you know," he said.
"Like what? What does he sell and buy?" Amy countered.
"I have no idea 'cause I haven't seen him for quite a while," Lozano's father answered.
Court records show Casares pleaded guilty to prostitution and manufacturing and selling drugs in 1995. So how did he go from dealing controlled substances to cruises?
"I was told about the company from a friend of mine who knew somebody who knew something about the company," Washington said, explaining how she found the company to book her cruise. "So it was really word of mouth."
Washington called Parkway Trip Experts and scheduled the cruise. She authorized a partner company, True Marketing, to electronically withdraw her deposit from her bank account. Next, she was asked to send a money order for booking fees to World Wide Get A Ways, also registered to Lozano. She mailed it to a private box rented by Casares at a UPS Store on Cypress Creek Parkway.
Weeks later, Washington got an email from yet another company. Travel Guaranteed Group wrote, "We are an independent company, hired by another company and paid by them to book your vacation offer."
"They're trying to dupe you," said Emerson Hankamer, president of Vacations to Go, a Houston travel agency for 33 years. "One of the ways they do that is if you complain about one, they move to the next and then they move to the next. If they have multiple companies and they're switching you from one to another to another. You know that's another red flag, and you should be suspicious of that."
KPRC found the owner of Travel Guaranteed in Baytown.
Kenneth Byford is a former attorney who gave up his law license in 2002, shortly before he was convicted of stealing some $60,000 from a North Texas law firm.
"It's just not fair to take people's money," Washington said.
"Why in the heck would you have five travel businesses in your name if you don't have anything to do with travel agencies?" Davis asked a stoic Casares at the courthouse. "What did you do with everybody's money?" she asked before he ran into the courtroom, closing the door behind him.
No one from any of the companies would return KPRC's calls or emails, but they will still make a reservation for you if you call one of the many toll-free numbers. If you have lost money to any of the companies listed below, you should file a complaint with the Harris County District Attorney's Consumer Fraud Division by calling 713-274-5555.
-Parkway Trip Experts
-Parkway Travel Experts
-A1 Travel Consultants
-World Wide Get A Ways
-Worldwide Services
-Worldwide Travel
-VIP Vacations
-Allstar Travel
-Sun and Fun Travel
-Astro Travel
-Travel Center
-TCI
-Travel Consultants International
-Romex Travel
-Centennial Travel
-Travel By Centennial
-True Marketing Associates
-Triple Promotions
-Adventures to Remember