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Area travel agent facing new charges – Port Arthur News

Area travel agent facing new charges – Port Arthur News

Area travel agent facing new charges

Published 8:00 pm Friday, September 20, 2024

Area travel agent Mary Emily Lockard-Furry was arrested Wednesday on three additional warrants related to her travel agency.

According to information from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Lockard-Furry’s warrants are for theft of property greater than $2,500- less than $30,000 related to TraveLuxe LLC.

These cases were investigated by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Detective Division.

In addition, Lockard-Furry has four warrants for her arrest in Hardin County related to her travel agency.

Lockard-Furry is believed to be part of a nationwide vacation-travel scam.

Authorities believe that when Emily Furry, owner/operator of Traveluxe LLC. was hired to make travel arrangements for individuals and families seeking travel assistance for vacations, primarily out of country, Furry would often request payment up front then make initial reservations to hold a hotel room, for example, but not follow through with the financial portion of the travel arrangements.

Instead, Furry would pocket the money leaving her customers without any type of secure reservation and in some instances stranded out of the country without any of the promised reservations or accommodations. The gravity of this scam rapidly increased and a multitude of victims began to come forward requesting help. The initiative to help those victimized by Furry was taken by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.

An initial case was presented to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office resulting in the issuance of an arrest warrant for Furry. The course of the investigation further led Detectives to Lockard-Furry’s home in Bevil Oaks where a search warrant was executed June 17.

Detectives and Fugitive Warrant Division Deputies arrested Lockard-Furry on Tuesday June 18th for Theft by Deception, a State Jail Felony at a residence in rural Jefferson County. Furry was transported to the Jefferson County Correctional Facility where bond is pending arrangement.

The case was presented to the Jefferson County grand jury and she was indicted on this charge. This investigation is ongoing, as there are many more individual’s suffering loss as a result of Furry’s fraudulent vacation scam, authorities said.

 

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