Former VP of school trip company sentenced for defrauding thousands of Ohio families
When Discovery Tours abruptly closed and filed for bankruptcy in 2018, the charter tour bus firm's trips for school students across Ohio to Washington, D.C. and other places were abruptly canceled, and more than 5,000 families who prepaid for their trips lost their money.
Victims of the Cleveland-area company's collapse included families of students in Olentangy, Columbus City and Hilliard school districts, The Dispatch previously reported.
On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Pamela Barker in Cleveland sentenced Joseph Cipolletti, former vice president of Discovery Tours, to prison for five years.
Cipolletti, 49, of Hudson, pleaded guilty in federal court last June to 18 charges related to embezzling from the company and defrauding grade-school and high-school students, parents and schools. The charges included wire fraud, money laundering, bank fraud and lying under oath.
Federal prosecutors said that as vice president of the family-run tour bus business, Cipoletti diverted money paid by families for educational trips and used the funds for personal expenses like home renovations and vehicles.
Barker has not yet ruled how much Cipolletti will have to pay in restitution, but federal prosecutors are asking for $1.5 million.
More: Former executive at bus tour company pleads guilty to embezzling funds from school trips
When Cipoletti was indicted, federal prosecutors accused him of embezzling a little more than $600,000. Over the course of the case, prosecutors discovered he embezzled even more.
As part of a plea bargain, Cipoletti and prosecutors agreed to "cap" the amount he embezzled at $1.5 million, according to court documents.
Brian R. McGraw, Cipoletti's defense attorney, said in court documents that Cipoletti's bookkeeping was sloppy and he tried to hide his compensation for tax purposes, but he did not steal that much. McGraw said Cipoletti often was forced to put his own money into the business, which he never got back.
"Joe Cipolletti is most sorry for the personal and emotional loss that each family experienced as a result of his criminal conduct," McGraw said in court documents.
Local districts impacted
Discovery Tours Inc. offered educational trips for students to destinations such as Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York City, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. These trips were via charter bus and included transportation, hotel accommodations, meals, sightseeing admissions and security.
After Discovery Tours filed for bankruptcy in May 2018, a planned May trip to Washington, D.C. for eighth-graders at Olentangy Orange Middle School was put in jeopardy. The trip was salvaged with donations from the teachers' scholarship fund and the Olentangy Orange High School Senior Class of 2018.
Families of 74 Columbus City Schools' Ridgeview Middle School students had already paid Discovery Tours more than $51,000 for a May trip to Chicago that year. Prime Tours based in Dublin agreed to handle the trip at a discounted rate. Donors, including local unions, contributed thousands of dollars to save the trip.
Families of some Hilliard middle-school students had already paid their $325 deposits to Discovery Tours for a D.C. trip planned for October 2018.
The Dispatch's Gannett sister paper, The Akron Beacon Journal, contributed to this report.
jlaird@dispatch.com
@LairdWrites
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Discovery Tours VP who embezzled $1.5 million sentenced to prison
