Waseca man sentenced to 24 months for fraud

Wasecan Matthew Harold Schumacher, 46, former owner and operator of Travel Toops, LLC, has been sentenced to 24 months in prison, according to the Minneapolis U.S. Attorney’s office.

Documents presented in court show that, between August 2016 and January 2019, Schumacher defrauded at least 36 independent agents nationwide of the commission due to them from travel providers, depositing at least $160,000 in his personal accounts which should have been passed along. Schumacher used fraudulently obtained funds for personal travel, entertainment tickets, retail purchases, cash withdrawals, and car, loan and credit card payments.

As part of Schumacher’s scheme to obtain and retain travel agents’ money for himself without their knowledge or consent, he routinely provided his travel agents with materially false and fraudulent information. He lied to travel agents, claiming that their commission money would be paid to them, when, in fact, he kept all of the victims’ money or, in other instances, despite refund requests, provided some victims with commission payments that were late, incomplete, or both.