Hampton U. student accused of diverting trip cash to himself

NEWPORT NEWS

Imagine the surprise on the faces of 200 Hampton University students when they arrived at a Jamaica resort for spring break, only to find that their up front fees hadn't been fully paid.

That's what happened in May 2007, according to a federal indictment filed this week against the group's travel agent, Christopher Ryan Thomas, a university student at the time and former student government leader.

When the group turned to Thomas for an explanation, he took out several credit cards and tried to pay the $90,000 bill, the indictment says. But his cards were maxed out.

The indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Newport News charges Thomas with six counts of wire fraud and one count of bank fraud. He is scheduled to make his first appearance in court on April 8.

Thomas is accused of diverting some of the money for his own personal use, including stock trading and financing a concert.

Thomas was a business major at Hampton University, graduating in 2007. While in school, he served on the student government association and at one point was its treasurer.

In 2005, he established his own travel business, Christopher Ryan Thomas Inc., and the following year persuaded the student government group to let him be the travel agent for that year's senior class spring break trip, according to the indictment.

Thomas collected about $200,000 from 200 students - roughly $1,000 from each - for a six-day, five-night vacation at Sunset Beach Resort and Spa in Montego Bay, Jamaica, the indictment says.

But he began spending the money on other things. He sent the resort a $10,000 deposit but used other money to day-trade stocks and to finance a university concert, "Spring Fest Jam '07," paying the travel, lodging and promotional expenses for a national rap star, the indictment says. He spent $67,000 on the show and failed to make a profit.

When he tried to buy the airline tickets for the spring break trip, his account was overdrawn by $44,000. He continued soliciting money from the group and managed to obtain the plane tickets.

When the students arrived in Jamaica, they were informed by the resort that they were $90,000 short. Thomas pulled out his credit cards but they were rejected, the indictment says.

"Thomas provided a number of false explanations to the students as to why he was unable to pay for the lodging," according to the indictment. He initially told them the bank wouldn't transfer such a large sum internationally. Then he told them his business partner lost the money.

"This caused many students to make calls to friends and relatives in the United States in order to request additional funds," the indictment says. Several students got enough money to stay a day or two.

Thomas has since moved to his home town of Sugar Land, Texas. Efforts to each him there were unsuccessful. His attorney also did not return a phone message.

The group's spring break disaster was first reported last year by Black College Wire, a news service for predominantly black colleges. At the time, several students had obtained civil judgments against Thomas.

Those students reported how upsetting it was to get to the resort only to find out their bill wasn't paid.

"I was in disbelief," Joshua Felder, who considered himself a friend of Thomas', told the news service. "He didn't give me an honest answer and he tried to deny that the money was missing."

Hampton University spokeswoman Yuri Rodgers Milligan did not respond to a phone message Friday, but she previously told the Black College Wire that the university was not directly involved in the trip.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com