{"id":6672,"date":"2014-10-16T11:25:54","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T18:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672"},"modified":"2014-10-16T16:12:11","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T23:12:11","slug":"travel-agent-pleads-guilty-stealing-360000-financing-high-school-trip-hawaiian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672","title":{"rendered":"Travel Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing $360,000 That Was Earmarked for a High School Trip to Hawaii"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Department<\/a>SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI<\/strong> \u2014 A travel agent plead guilty in federal court on Wednesday to stealing $360,000 from the Willard High School Band Boosters, which resulted in the cancellation of a trip to Hawaii for more than 300 students and chaperones, officials said.<\/p>\n

This is the third high school band that \u00a0Calliope R. Saaga<\/strong>, also known as \u201cOpe,\u201d 40, of Saratoga Springs, Utah, has duped, according to a report by K3 \u00a0TV in Springfield, Missouri.<\/a><\/p>\n

Officials said Thursday that Saaga plead guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to one count of wire fraud involving the $360,000 theft.<\/p>\n

Saaga booked no reservations as required in the contract. Instead, as he received wire transfers from the band boosters, Saaga used the funds to finance his personal lifestyle, including at least 47 days spent gambling in Las Vegas, Nev.<\/p>\n

Authorities said Saaga, doing business as Present America Tours, LLC, contracted with the Willard High School Band Boosters in January 2011 to provide travel arrangements for a June 2012 band trip to Hawaii. Saaga was responsible for booking airfare, lodging, transportation, meals, tours, and travel insurance for more than 300 students and chaperones.<\/p>\n

The Willard High School Band Boosters wired 12 payments of $30,000 each to Saaga between February 2011 and January 2012.<\/p>\n

While he was spending the money of the Willard High School Band Boosters to finance his personal lifestyle, Saaga transmitted e-mails about details of the trip to the Willard High School director of bands, which lulled the band boosters into believing that their trip to Hawaii was on schedule, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

Saaga is facing up to 20 years in prison. His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled, officials said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI \u2014 A travel agent plead guilty in federal court on Wednesday to stealing $360,000 from the Willard High School Band Boosters, which resulted in the cancellation of a trip to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nTravel Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing $360,000 That Was Earmarked for a High School Trip to Hawaii<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI \u2014 A travel agent plead guilty in federal court on Wednesday to stealing $360,000 from the Willard High School Band Boosters, which\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Travel Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing $360,000 That Was Earmarked for a High School Trip to Hawaii\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI \u2014 A travel agent plead guilty in federal court on Wednesday to stealing $360,000 from the Willard High School Band Boosters, which\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-16T18:25:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-16T23:12:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6672#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6672\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Travel Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing $360,000 That Was Earmarked for a High School Trip to Hawaii\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-16T18:25:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-16T23:12:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6672\"},\"wordCount\":285,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6672#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/Willard-High-School-Logo.bmp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Home Main Slider\",\"U.S. Department of Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6672#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6672\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6672\",\"name\":\"Travel Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing $360,000 That Was Earmarked for a High School Trip to Hawaii\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6672#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6672#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/Willard-High-School-Logo.bmp\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-16T18:25:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-16T23:12:11+00:00\",\"description\":\"SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI \u2014 A travel agent plead guilty in federal court on Wednesday to stealing $360,000 from the Willard High School Band Boosters, which\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6672\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=6672#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/Willard-High-School-Logo.bmp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/Willard-High-School-Logo.bmp\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Travel Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing $360,000 That Was Earmarked for a High School Trip to Hawaii","description":"SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI \u2014 A travel agent plead guilty in federal court on Wednesday to stealing $360,000 from the Willard High School Band Boosters, which","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Travel Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing $360,000 That Was Earmarked for a High School Trip to Hawaii","og_description":"SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI \u2014 A travel agent plead guilty in federal court on Wednesday to stealing $360,000 from the Willard High School Band Boosters, which","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2014-10-16T18:25:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-16T23:12:11+00:00","author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Travel Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing $360,000 That Was Earmarked for a High School Trip to Hawaii","datePublished":"2014-10-16T18:25:54+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-16T23:12:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672"},"wordCount":285,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Willard-High-School-Logo.bmp","articleSection":["Home Main Slider","U.S. Department of Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672","name":"Travel Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing $360,000 That Was Earmarked for a High School Trip to Hawaii","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Willard-High-School-Logo.bmp","datePublished":"2014-10-16T18:25:54+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-16T23:12:11+00:00","description":"SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI \u2014 A travel agent plead guilty in federal court on Wednesday to stealing $360,000 from the Willard High School Band Boosters, which","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=6672#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Willard-High-School-Logo.bmp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Willard-High-School-Logo.bmp"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6672"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6685,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6672\/revisions\/6685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}