Originally Posted - June 27, 2006

return home

MINEOLA---A Hempstead man has been arrested and charged with masterminding and executing a plan that allegedly defrauded hundreds of travelers out of tens of thousands of dollars.

Jerry Andrew Cummings, 40, of Hempstead, has been charged with two counts of third degree grand larceny, scheme to defraud in the first degree and grand larceny in the fourth degree.

"We believe this defendant is responsible for the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars from vacationers, travel agencies, and credit card companies," said Nassau County district attorney Kathleen Rice. "His elaborate cons have left people without their vacations and, many times, stranded or fearing for their safety in foreign countries."

Cummings is being arrested for the second time in two months as a travel agent who has victimized and stranded hundreds of travelers and travel agencies across the United States and Canada over the past five years.

In May, Cummings was arrested by the Crimes Against Property Squad of the Nassau County Police Department. In that case, Cummings was charged with defrauding approximately 100 customers of Magic Carpet Travel in Ontario, Canada, from September 2005 through April 2006. Fifty customers of Magic Carpet Travel paid for vacations in full before departing for their destinations. Once arriving at their hotels, the customers found that no reservations had been made in their names and they were forced to re-pay up to $5,000 for hotel rooms. In another instance Magic Carpet Travel paid Cummings $10,000 in credit card payments and $16,749 in cash for their customers, which included 25 students and chaperones to travel to Cancun, Mexico, in March 2006. Prosecutors say that Cummings never paid for airfare or hotel rooms for the groups. As a result, the trip was cancelled. After repeated requests for a refund by Magic Carpet Travel, Cummings allegedly returned only $8,801 of the $16,749 in cash payments and failed to refund the balance. Another group of travelers booking through Magic Carpet Travel in March 2006 planned on vacationing in Punta Cana. Upon learning that only three of the 13 airfares had been booked and no hotel reservations had been made, 10 of the travelers canceled their vacation. Those travelers were able to reverse the charge on their credit card, which resulted in a loss to the credit card company.

After Cummings' arrest in May, the Nassau County District Attorney's Investigators found that Cummings had been arrested and charged for similar crimes in April 2004 and April 2005. With that information an intensive investigation of Cummings and his businesses began. The incident in April 2004 was settled without a trial and a settlement was negotiated for some travelers. The incident in April 2005 was dismissed because many of the affected travelers could not be located. In May and June 2006 DA Investigators contacted travelers and travel agents from across the United States and Canada. The result was the discovery of an alleged continuous pattern of misrepresentations, fraudulent practices, and larceny by Cummings.

Prosecutors said the defendant was able to continue his scheme to defraud by changing the name of the principal and business names several times. Names for his business that Mr. Cummings used include N.Y. Sunshine Vacations, N.Y Sunshine Vacations, New York Sunshine Vacations, New York Sunshine Vacations.Tour.Com, NY Sunshine Vacations, Sunshine Unlimited, Sunshine Vacation(s) TVL, Sunshine Vacations, Sunshine Vacations, Inc., Sunshine Vacations Travels, Sunshines Vacation Inc., Celebrity Travel, Celebrity Travel Inc., Celebrity Travel Package, and Celebrity Travel Sun. The defendant used the names Andrew Cummings, Jerry Cummings, Jeremy Cummings, and Andrew Gibbs, in addition to names of relatives and others to conceal his ownership and control of the businesses.

This newest complaint alleges that Cummings defrauded customers of Ohio and Florida travel agencies and American Express, and others between June, 2004 and June, 2006.

In December 2004, Kenley Konnection, an Ohio based travel agency booked a group trip for approximately 100 people to Nassau, Bahamas, for June 2005. The travel agent sent Cummings $28,586.34 to cover the cost of the trip. Several weeks before the trip, Kenley became suspicious of the vouchers sent by Cummings to Kenley Konnection. Upon checking with the airlines and the hotel, Kenley found that neither had been paid. Cummings issued checks to refund Kenley the money, but the checks were returned due to insufficient funds. As a result, Cummings only returned $8,091.74 of the original $28,586.34.

A second charge in the complaint concerns an April 2006 incident, in which Master Travel and Cruises of West Palm Beach, Fla., booked an all-inclusive vacation in Ocho Rios, Jamaica for their customer, John Habicht, through Sunshine Vacations Inc. Cummings sent Mr. Habicht a voucher for airfare, transfer and hotel, including confirmation numbers. When Habicht arrived at the Jamaican airport, there was no transfer service waiting for him. Upon obtaining his own transportation to the hotel, he was told by hotel staff that the hotel had not been booked or not been paid for and that there were no vacancies available. The hotel was able to accommodate Habicht for one night, forwhich he had to pay. After speaking with Sunshine Vacations Inc., Habicht was assured that he would be transferred to a similar all-inclusive resort. Cummings instructed Habicht to pay for the hotel upfront and that he would be reimbursed for his original charges upon return. Habicht has yet to receive any refund from Cummings.

The final charge in the complaint relates to American Express, from which Cummings is accused of stealing $35,000. Cummings opened corporate accounts under various names, ran up charges, including over $25,000 in charges from Celebrity Travel to Sunshine Travel (both owned by Cummings) and failed to pay the balance. Additionally, the defendant opened at least one merchant account under a new name, which he emptied before being charged back.

At the time of Cummings' arrest, a search warrant, which was signed by the Hon. Judge Gulotta on June 23, was executed at his business premises at 250 Fulton Street, Hempstead. 6-27-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette