Crime & Safety

Alleged Travel Scams Lead to Indictment for South Jersey Couple

Authorities say Daryl Turner and his wife, Robyn Bernstein, took their customers for hundreds of thousands of dollars in a wide-ranging scheme.

A Marlton couple who allegedly scammed hundreds of travel customers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by selling fake vacation packages and collecting fees on what they claimed were free, promotional airfares and cruises they never delivered were indicted Friday, New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced Tuesday.

Daryl Turner, 41, and his wife, Robyn Bernstein, 43, opened and closed down numerous travel agencies in a four-year period to stay ahead of their victims, and laundered more than $700,000 stolen from their victims through two bank accounts to buy a 4,500-square-foot home, Chiesa said.

“Like a pair of old-school con artists, Turner and Bernstein allegedly operated eight different travel companies in a little over four years, closing one company down and opening another in a new location whenever they felt the heat,” Chiesa said in a statement. “The defendants allegedly tricked people out of their hard-earned money, promising vacation deals that they knew did not exist. Because of the large sums of money involved, which they allegedly laundered, they will face lengthy prison sentences if convicted.”

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Both Turner and Bernstein were indicted on first-degree conspiracy and money laundering, as well as two counts of second-degree theft by deception. Turner also faces four third-degree charges of failing to file a state income tax return, between 2008 and 2011, and Bernstein was charged with failing to file a 2011 tax return.

The couple baited potential victims with mass-mailed postcards promising a free cruise for two or free airfare for two, according to the indictment, then used high-pressure sales tactics, pushing vacation packages that ranged in cost from around $2,200 to $6,500—packages that promised impossible prices and unavailable properties.

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From condos in Walt Disney World to 75 percent off resort stays to cruise discounts of 65 percent, Turner and Berstein's offers via Away We Go Promotions, LLC were pure fantasy, authorities said—and further, the couple knew the Georgia-based travel company they used to book vacations for their customers had no way of delivering on those promises, and frequently didn't even book the types of travel the couple was selling.

Fees they collected on the allegedly free cruises and flights—Turner and Bernstein told customers it was to cover everything from port and government fees to random, unnamed taxes and fees—totaled nearly $150,000, authorities said.

“This is a flagrant case of consumer fraud,” said Elie Honig, director of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We allege Turner and Bernstein never intended to deliver on their offers of free cruises and airfare, or their promises of big discounts on vacation packages. We will continue to take referrals from the Division of Consumer Affairs on cases where we allege that the line is crossed from business enterprise to criminal enterprise.”

If convicted on the criminal counts, Turner and Bernstein face 10 to 20 years in prison on the first-degree counts alone, and $1 million in fines and penalties just on the money laundering charges.

“We brought the full resources of the Attorney General’s Office together to bring these alleged notorious frauds to justice,” said Eric T. Kanefsky, acting director of the Division of Consumer Affairs. “Those who think defrauding consumers is a minor matter will find out how wrong they are, as Turner and Bernstein can attest to. Our goal remains getting money back into the hands of the consumers who Turner and Bernstein allegedly defrauded, and holding the defendants accountable for their alleged actions.”

Complaints against the couple date back to 2009, when the Division of Consumer Affairs filed a civil complaint against Turner and three of his businesses in Morris County, which was settled in 2011 for $3 million, and banned Turner from working in the travel business in the state for five years.

After that settlement, officials from Consumer Affairs found out Turner was involved in one of Bernstein's travel companies—Travel Deals, LLC—which resulted in another civil complaint.

The couple also ran travel companies under Dreamworks Vacation Club, Five Points Travel Company, Vacation Clubs LLC (doing business as La Bonne Vie Travel), Bentley Travel, Blue Water Gateway, Modern Destinations Unlimited and VIP Executives, LLC, authorities said. Some of those companies were incorporated in New Jersey and had addresses in Cherry Hill, Marlton, Parsippany and Manalapan, but others were just an out-of-state postal drop box, authorities said.


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