Months after 104 students and chaperones from Seabreeze High School were allegedly defrauded by a travel agency, the business’s owner has been arrested. Robert Goodwin had a warrant for his arrest out of Volusia County after he was accused of scamming the group out of more than $400,000 for a trip to Europe. Months later, on Friday, the Sheriff’s Office confirmed Goodwin was arrested in California. Kristin Robbins’ two sons were two of the Seabreeze students set to head out on a trip to Italy and Greece in 2024. “This was the trip of a lifetime for them,” she said Friday. They were doing chores and getting some of the money together to cover the cost. “So they actually paid for quite a bit of it,” she said. According to an invoice Robbins shared, the total for the two of them was $7,100. As they got closer to their June 2024 trip, she said she wasn’t expecting any trouble. She said they even met the man who allegedly sold 104 students and chaperoned the trip. Robert Goodwin. Owner of travel agency Stone & Compass Inc. “He came to the school and did a meeting with us and he seemed completely legit. So I had no reason to think that the trip wasn’t going to happen,” Robbins said. But according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, the travel agency let students know just a month before the trip that they were ceasing operations and wouldn’t be giving refunds. “They were devastated,” Robbins said. The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office issued an arrest warrant for Goodwin, but they didn’t find him. Until Friday. “A few hours ago, a girlfriend sent me a text message that they found him, and I was like, really? Robbins said. Sheriff Mike Chitwood said they knew Goodwin was in Massachusetts, but got information that he fled to California. “So with California authorities and the United States Marshals, they were able to locate his wife out there, and then they did some really, really great police work, and they took him into custody earlier today,” Chitwood said. Chitwood said Goodwin has pulled things similar to what happened to the Seabreeze students in the past, but said Volusia County is the first to go after him with criminal charges. Chitwood said Goodwin has a multimillion-dollar bond in Florida. But that doesn’t mean they can get him back here right away. “We’re hoping he’ll do this the easy way and waive extradition and come back,” Chitwood said. “However, a judge can release him on nominal bail out there. We would then have to seek a governor’s warrant from Governor DeSantis to have him detained and brought back, so we’re far from having him back here in Volusia County.”But if and when they do get him back to Florida, he’s inviting the Seabreeze families to greet Goodwin at the airport. “So he can look down in all the faces whose lives he’s destroyed,” Chitwood said.Robbins said she’ll be there. And as far as what she’d like to see after that, “Even if we don’t get whole financially, I think that the fact that he’s arrested and can’t do this to anybody else is to me it’s peace, and I’m fine with that,” she said. Some families were able to get at least some of their money back through credit card chargebacks or other partial payments.When WESH 2 asked Chitwood what Goodwin’s arrest could mean for recouping the money. He said they are already working with the federal government to seize Goodwin’s assets.

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. —

Months after 104 students and chaperones from Seabreeze High School were allegedly defrauded by a travel agency, the business’s owner has been arrested.

Robert Goodwin had a warrant for his arrest out of Volusia County after he was accused of scamming the group out of more than $400,000 for a trip to Europe.

Months later, on Friday, the Sheriff’s Office confirmed Goodwin was arrested in California.

Kristin Robbins’ two sons were two of the Seabreeze students set to head out on a trip to Italy and Greece in 2024.

“This was the trip of a lifetime for them,” she said Friday.

They were doing chores and getting some of the money together to cover the cost.

“So they actually paid for quite a bit of it,” she said.

According to an invoice Robbins shared, the total for the two of them was $7,100. As they got closer to their June 2024 trip, she said she wasn’t expecting any trouble.

She said they even met the man who allegedly sold 104 students and chaperoned the trip. Robert Goodwin. Owner of travel agency Stone & Compass Inc.

“He came to the school and did a meeting with us and he seemed completely legit. So I had no reason to think that the trip wasn’t going to happen,” Robbins said.

But according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, the travel agency let students know just a month before the trip that they were ceasing operations and wouldn’t be giving refunds.

“They were devastated,” Robbins said.

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office issued an arrest warrant for Goodwin, but they didn’t find him. Until Friday.

“A few hours ago, a girlfriend sent me a text message that they found him, and I was like, really? Robbins said.

Sheriff Mike Chitwood said they knew Goodwin was in Massachusetts, but got information that he fled to California.

“So with California authorities and the United States Marshals, they were able to locate his wife out there, and then they did some really, really great police work, and they took him into custody earlier today,” Chitwood said.

Chitwood said Goodwin has pulled things similar to what happened to the Seabreeze students in the past, but said Volusia County is the first to go after him with criminal charges. Chitwood said Goodwin has a multimillion-dollar bond in Florida. But that doesn’t mean they can get him back here right away.

“We’re hoping he’ll do this the easy way and waive extradition and come back,” Chitwood said. “However, a judge can release him on nominal bail out there. We would then have to seek a governor’s warrant from Governor DeSantis to have him detained and brought back, so we’re far from having him back here in Volusia County.”

But if and when they do get him back to Florida, he’s inviting the Seabreeze families to greet Goodwin at the airport.

“So he can look down in all the faces whose lives he’s destroyed,” Chitwood said.

Robbins said she’ll be there. And as far as what she’d like to see after that,

“Even if we don’t get whole financially, I think that the fact that he’s arrested and can’t do this to anybody else is to me it’s peace, and I’m fine with that,” she said.

Some families were able to get at least some of their money back through credit card chargebacks or other partial payments.

When WESH 2 asked Chitwood what Goodwin’s arrest could mean for recouping the money. He said they are already working with the federal government to seize Goodwin’s assets.