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Parents: Smithfield high school students’ trip canceled because of travel agent

Posted at 6:34 PM, Sep 17, 2015
and last updated 2015-09-18 06:07:40-04

Smithfield, Va. - "You`re still out there. You`re still a predator."

That's what Kristie Lanford has to say to the travel agent who she says scammed her, her daughter, and more than a dozen students from Smithfield high school's Spanish program.

"I was completely devastated. I was very obsessed with this all summer. It kind of destroyed our lives," Lanford said.

She says they all paid the travel agent thousands of dollars.

Two days before they were set to leave, they received a phone call from the travel agent at Grade A Travel, LLC.

"Right before our trip, he called our lead teacher and said he was canceling the trip. He promised us a refund. He told us in our letter we could go on another trip if we wanted to, or get all of our money back in 30 days."

But that never happened.

NewsChannel 3 has reached out to the travel agent, but we weren't able to get a hold of him.  Lanford says she has a meeting with Isle of Wight investigators next week.