Terminated employee is arrested for alleged theft of flight ticket payment

A Mita Travel Agency employee who was terminated for misappropriation of company funds last month was arrested yesterday after the company found out that she also allegedly stole $948.50 paid by a customer for an airline ticket.

Police arrested Susan Sula Pascua at the Saipan International Airport on charges of theft, theft by deception, and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received.

Pascua, 46, was taken to the Superior Court yesterday afternoon for a bail hearing. Associate Judge David Wiseman set a $5,000 bail and $4,500 property bond for the defendant’s temporary liberty.

Arraignment was set for April 21 at 9am.

A detective stated in his report that Mita Travel terminated Pascua on March 13 for alleged misappropriation of company funds.

On Wednesday, Mita Travel sought police’s help after learning that the terminated employee also stole money from the company, possibly on Feb. 25.

The detective said that on Wednesday, a Mita Travel employee had explained that customer Mohammed Nihar had gone to the agency on Feb. 25 to purchase an airline ticket to Bangladesh in the amount of $948.50.

When Nihar went to Mita Travel to pick up his ticket on Wednesday, the agency discovered through their computer records that, although the customer paid for the ticket in the morning, the ticket was canceled in the afternoon.

Records show that it was Pascua who made the travel arrangements and also canceled them.

Nihar then presented a copy of the invoice that Mita Travel would usually attach a receipt to.

Nihar had thought at the time that the invoice was his receipt.

On that day, Feb. 25, Pascua turned in one receipt to the company in the amount of $75.

When Mita Travel Agency owner Juan Pan Guerrero was informed about Nihar’s case, the defendant was called to explain.

Pascua went to the office and claimed that the money should be on the records.

When told that there was no record, the defendant said she would pay the customer through a personal check.

Guerrero refused to accept a personal check. Pascua then asked if she could instead pay using a credit card.

Pascua, however, stated that the credit card belongs to a friend. Guerrero refused to accept the credit card.

The defendant left the office and promised to return.

Three Mita Travel employees told police that Pascua later admitted to them she took the money to pay other customers.