Sentencing for Travel Act violations delayed

A Fort Erie woman who promoted an all-inclusive Caribbean cruise as a fundraiser for a local legion branch but left customers stranded in Florida has had her sentencing delayed for the second time.

Karen Gushue, 49, dropped a bombshell about having $26,000 to repay victims at a sentencing hearing on June 27 and was given until Monday to produce the funds.

The $26,000 still hasn’t materialized, but Gushue arrived in court Monday with a new lawyer, Daniel Kayfetz of Toronto, who successfully lobbied the judge for time to go over the case. Nadel adjourned the hearing until Sept 12.

The restitution could serve as a mitigating factor in Gushue’s sentencing.

“The only real issue is whether Ms. Gushue will go to jail or not,” Judge Joseph Nadel told Kayfetz.

Nadel found Gushue guilty of violating the Travel Industry Act in February.

Tim Snell is the lawyer for the Travel Industry Council of Ontario and is acting for the Crown. He wants Gushue to spend four to six months in jail and perform 200 hours of community service.

Gushue is also facing criminal fraud charges of one count of fraud over $5,000 and one count of fraud under $5,000 in Superior Court. There are also civil proceedings.

The court heard a third-party is paying Kayfetz to represent Gushue.

Kayfetz is her third lawyer in this proceeding. She fired her two previous lawyers, Rachel Lichtman and Dave Protomanni.

The group who signed up for the Caribbean cruise are out about $24,000, according to the travel council’s calculations. Those that signed up for a Hawaii cruise that never happened are out $45,000.

Snell again urged Nadel to move ahead with sentencing for the Travel Industry Act offences.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Snell said.

Gushue told the court in June she had collected $26,000 in refunds, and a man in Brampton was holding the money. The man turned out to be her ex-brotherin-law. He was holding the money because her husband was uneasy with police having access to her bank account as part of her bail conditions, she said.

“Ms. Gushue appears to make things up as she goes along,” Snell said. “I haven’t received anything. The explanation is that her friend is out of the county and returning on Aug. 6.”

Later he added, “This is nothing but a fishing expedition in a dry river bed.”

Gushue was a member of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 230 in Ridgeway. Between August 2016 and February 2017, she organized and promoted two vacation packages that were supposed to be in support of the branch.

The first promotion was a fourday cruise package to the Bahamas in February 2017. The second was the trip to Hawaii.

The Bahamas cruise was offered at $650 and included round trip airfare as well as food and alcohol. During the cruise, guests discovered their packages only covered the flight down to Florida, and the alcohol they were drinking was not included.

The cruise to Hawaii never took place.