Utah travel agent indicted for Willard High School Band theft

A Utah man was indicted by a federal grand jury in Springfield yesterday for the alleged theft of $360,000 from the Willard High School Band Boosters, forcing a cancellation of a Hawaii trip for over 300 students and chaperones.

Calliope Rocky Saaga, aka "Ope," 39, of Saratoga Springs, Utah, is charged in a 15-count indictment, comprising 12 counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering, according to a news release from the office of Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Saaga, who did business as Present America Tours LLC, in January 2011 entered a contract with the Willard High School Band Boosters to set up travel arrangements for a planned June 2012 trip to Hawaii. As part of the agreement, Saaga was paid to book airfare, lodging, transportation, meals tours and travel insurance. For his services, the boosters wired 12 payments of $30,000 apiece to Saaga between February 2011 and January 2012. While allegedly spending the money wired by the boosters, Saaga continue to email the director of bands at Willard High School, leading the boosters to believe the trip to Hawaii was on schedule.

However, the indictment alleges Saaga booked none of the reservations required in the contract. Instead, he is charged with using the wired funding for personal finances, including gambling in Las Vegas and trips to Samoa and Disneyland, according to the release.

Because services were not provided to the boosters in Willard, the high school band was forced to cancel its trip, with the boosters suffering a loss of $360,000.

The indictment seeks a judgment that would require Saaga to forfeit to the government any property purchased from the proceeds of the alleged offense, as well as pay $400,000 in restitution, according to the release.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abram McGull and was investigated by Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the FBI and the Willard Police Department.