Attorney: Devastation and anger at travel agent accused of multiple theft cases

Beaumont — Many clients of a travel agent charged with multiple theft cases are devastated and angry at their stolen dreams of wonderful retirement vacations or honeymoons, according to an attorney representing multiple men and women who say they are victims.

Layne Walker Jr. tells KFDM/Fox 4 News his clients spent years, even a decade, saving up for the trip of a lifetime, but says many never got out of the airport gate.

Travel troubles doesn’t even begin to describe the pain and heartache Walker says his clients suffered at the hands of 39-year-old Mary Emily Lockard-Furry.

The travel agent from Southeast Texas has now racked up eight new charges of theft to go along with the original cases. They include three in Jefferson County, four in Hardin County, and one in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. A judge set bond at a total of $80, 000.

KFDM/Fox 4 obtained several probable cause affidavits for Lockard-Furry’s arrest in these new cases.

In one, a couple from Jefferson County arrived at the airport in Newark, New Jersey after booking a trip to Norway through the travel agent.

The couple claims Lockard-Furry suggested they increase their trip budget from $20,000 and that she would arrange airlines. hotels, transportation to and from airports, and excursions.

The trip was scheduled in February and the couple paid the new amount, more than $73,000, but when they arrived at the ticket counter in Newark, they say they discovered the agent hadn’t booked the airline tickets, and the reservations had been made but not purchased. They ended up going to Norway but say there were all sorts of problems, not the least of which is getting their money back.

Attorney Lane Walker Jr. represents the couple and many other clients. He’s filed a civil lawsuit against Lockard-Furry.

He says elderly couples planning trips and newlyweds planning honeymoons all have something in common: a travel agent the attorney says left many of them high and dry.

“You’re dealing with very, very intimate portions of people’s lives,” says Walker, “and yes, everybody says ‘well, it’s only a vacation.’ No, it’s not. Sure, the trip itself was a vacation, but what about the decade that somebody prepared for it? What about the entire two years that a newlywed looked forward to this, and then in an instant, somebody gets to decide, ‘we’ll, I want your money so I’m going to take it and rob you of all of that.’ That’s why we are where we are. That’s why it’s grown to this magnitude.”

Walker says he’s working to help clients get as much money back as possible, and he hopes Lockard-Furry is tried before a jury of her peers and faces justice.