A Rochester woman is charged with theft and unauthorized use of an entity’s identifying information for allegedly using the credentials of a Waterford travel agency for her personal gain.
According to the criminal complaint filed in Racine County Court Jan. 31, Melanie L. Langley, 60, is accused of using the credentials of Bon Voyage Travel, 116 N. Milwaukee Ave., Waterford, to rebook or reroute bookings to different agencies that she worked for.
The owner of Bon Voyage, which also has an office in Union Grove, estimates that Langley’s actions resulted in a loss of $37,000 by the agency.
The complaint alleges that Langley, who had worked for Bon Voyage since February 2013 requested to work more often from home in June of last year. The owner of the agency noticed that Langley’s bookings decreased at that point and she later learned through a client that Langley had requested the client sign an authorization to transfer her business from Bon Voyage to another agency.
The owner of Bon Voyage then conducted an internal investigation and discovered that numerous client files were missing, the complaint alleges. The files were originally booked by Langley while she was working for Bon Voyage, but were later changed to other travel agencies that Langley worked for briefly at the same time she was employed by Bon Voyage.
The complaint also alleges that Langley continued to use Bon Voyage’s credentials after her termination to access travel documents for clients that had originally booked travel through Bon Voyage.
A preliminary hearing in the case was scheduled for Feb. 7. Langley made her initial appearance in court Jan. 31 and was ordered to have no contact with the owner or employees of Bon Voyage Travel. She was then released on $7,500 signature bond.
For more court news see the Feb. 8 edition of the Waterford Post.
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