TICO: two agents charged, another two convicted

In separate incidents, the Travel Industry Council of Ontario has charged a pair of Ontario agents for various Travel Industry Act violations, while another two agents recently pleaded guilty to previous TICO charges.

Frank Cardona was charged with one count of operating as a travel agent without registration. Cardona operated in Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario. During the relevant period of time, he was not registered as a travel agent and was not employed under a contract for services with another registrant, TICO said. The first court appearance in the above matter is scheduled for July 28 at 9 a.m. at the Ontario Court of Justice, Provincial Offences Court, located at 70 Centre Avenue, Toronto, Ontario.

1054304 Ontario Limited o/a Tri World Travel (“Tri World”), a registered travel agent operating in Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario and Gary Cristello, officer/director of Tri World, were each charged with the following offences:

• Tri World - Four counts of furnishing false information relating to the provision of travel services

• Gary Cristello – Four counts of failing to take reasonable care to prevent Tri World from committing an offence of furnishing false information relating to the provision of travel services

• Tri World - Seven counts of failing to hold in trust and deposit customer funds in trust account
• Gary Cristello - Seven counts of failing to take reasonable care to prevent Tri World from committing an offence of failing to hold in trust and deposit customer funds in trust account
• Tri World - Seven counts of failing to hold customer funds in trust account
• Gary Cristello - Seven counts of failing to take reasonable care to prevent Tri World from committing an offence of failing to hold customer funds in trust account

The first court appearance in the above matter is scheduled for July 14 at 9 a.m. at the Ontario Court of Justice, Provincial Offences Court, located at 70 Centre Avenue, Toronto, Ontario.

David and Jennifer Hemmings pleaded guilty and were each convicted of one count of operating as a travel agent without registration. The Hemmings operated in Whitby and elsewhere in Ontario and have never been registered as travel agents under the Act.

The Defendants were sentenced as follows:

• Jennifer Hemmings - $3,000 fine plus Victim Impact Surcharge – for a total of $3,750. The fine is to be paid within two years.
• David Hemmings - $8,000 fine plus Victim Impact Surcharge – for a total of $10,000. The fine is to be paid within two years.

This is the second offence and conviction under the Act for David Hemmings. He pleaded guilty to one count of operating as a travel agent without registration in October 2013 and was sentenced to a fine of $3,000.