- December 4, 2025
A 56-year-old owner of a Massachusetts travel agency is facing grand theft and fraud charges after detectives say he defrauded 104 Seabreeze High School students and chaperones out of $400,000 for a cancelled international trip, the Volusia Sheriff's Office reports.
VSO reports that Robert Goodwin and his agency, Stone and Compass Travel, canceled the students' nine-day class trip to Italy and Greece without refunds in May 2024. The students' trip, which was not school-sponsored, was set to begin in June 2024.
The agency emailed the students that it was going out of business one month before the trip, stating there was no money to offer refunds. Each traveler had paid a minimum of $3,550 in travel fees for airfare, lodging and excursions, according to a VSO post on Facebook.
Shortly after sending out the email, the agency's website went down and all contact phone numbers and emails were inactive.
VSO reports that detectives with its Financial Crimes Unit began their investigation into Stone and Compass Travel in May 2024 after the case was referred to VSO by the State Attorney's Office.
VSO's investigation revealed the travel agency was being sued by other organizations for similar allegations, including Flagler College in St. Augustine.
Goodwin faces two counts of grand theft (over $100K) and two counts of organized scheme to defraud (over $50K). His bond is set at $4 million.
