Attorney General's Office investigating closed Cedar Rapids travel agency

A travel company with a Cedar Rapids office is now the target of a consumer protection probe by the Iowa Attorney General's Office.

Integrity Travel, 5925 Council St. NE, is accused of taking more than $100,000 in advance payments for a Davenport Central High School trip. School officials at Center Point-Urbana say they also prepaid some money to that travel agency for an overnight trip to Minnesota planned for the end of May.

Alan Marshall, Center Point-Urbana superintendent, said the district prepaid approximately $3,700 to Integrity Travel to lock in prices. The district's insurance policy should cover that loss. Marshall said he's more worried about the approximately $6,300 paid by families for their share of the cost.

Students and school officials in Davenport learned late last week that their choir and orchestra bus trip to New York City was in jeopardy.

“I could tell something was wrong," said student Claire Honsey. "The directors and everybody seemed a little tense.”

School officials at Davenport Central said they had worked with Integrity Travel for 16 years when it was time to book large student group trips. Trip organizers only learned about the problem when they discovered the travel agency hadn't paid the bus line for the trip from money collected in advance, wasn't returning calls and had apparently gone out of business.

Sue Honsey, a member of the Davenport Central Booster Club, said there was a sense of panic at first.

“Oh my gosh, these kids can't go on the trip. We're not talking about a small group, we're talking 181 to be exact,” Honsey said.

Honsey said the booster club saved the trip when it dipped into an emergency fund to pay for the travel expenses students and families had already funded.

The consumer protection division of the Iowa Attorney General's Office launched the investigation after Davenport Central officials filed a complaint. Consumer protection director Bill Brauch said consumers who prepay for trips don't have a lot of protection if a travel agency goes under.

“Under Iowa law, a travel agency has to obtain a $10,000 bond-but that's not $10,000 for each transaction, that's $10,000 for all consumers at all times, so that's not a lot of money,” Brauch said.

Marshall said he will file a complaint with the state, and is also talking to local law enforcement about a possible theft by deception criminal case.