
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 17, 1994                   TAG: 9408170095
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA                                 LENGTH: Short

TRAVEL OFFER TOOK PEOPLE TO CLEANERS

To potential travelers, the advertisements may have seemed too good to be true. For many, that's exactly what they were.

Brett Emmerson of Alexandria and her parents paid Great American Travel Club $800 in December 1991 for a trip to Cancun, Mexico. Emmerson's mother died before the trip, and when Emerson tried to get their money back, Great American's owners, Michael Barson and Christopher Barson, returned $200.

Monday, after a 29-month investigation, the brothers were indicted by a U.S. District Court grand jury.

Michael Barson, 26, of Reston, and Christopher Barson, 30, of Bethesda, Md., are charged with conspiring to violate mail, wire and bank fraud statutes between August 1990 and March 1992. Specifically, they are accused of illegally obtaining more than $800,000 through a bogus travel telemarketing business.

Michael Barson was arrested Monday by the FBI at his home and released on bond. Christopher Barson was not arrested but was ordered to appear in court next Monday for arraignment.

Helen Fahey, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said money was illegally obtained from more than 2,000 customers in 43 states who responded to national newspaper advertisements.

by CNB