A Pittsburgh woman arrested Tuesday on suspicion of allegedly cheating advertisers and exhibitors out of thousands of dollars for a fake bridal show in Boston also allegedly targeted bridal vendors in North Texas.
According to a criminal complaint, Karen Tucker and an uncharged co-conspirator are behind the Dream Wedding Bridal Expo for weddings and quinceañeras in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as well as similar scams in four other states.
A website for the Dream Wedding Bridal Expo claimed the event was scheduled for Dec. 11-12 at the Longhorn Exhibit Hall at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine.
J.T. Holsomback, the owner of Bliss Bridal Salon in Fort Worth, put down a $990 deposit. He said he spoke with a woman calling herself "Jennifer Smith" for some time about the expo.
"She was very knowledgeable about the industry and the bridal shows," he said.
The FBI said a PayPal account associated with DWBE Inc. has received more than $12,000 in advance fees from businesses so far for the show in Grapevine.
According to the expo's website, prices for booths ranged from $800 to $2,500. Dream Wedding Bridal Expo was also selling advertising for a wedding magazine, with ad space ranging in price from $300 to $1,200.
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But the Gaylord later told Holsomback that a bridal show was never scheduled there for December.
"You kind of go through -- you're mad at them, and then I was mad, kind of, at myself, because I didn't do as much research on my own as I should have and was hasty in giving these people money," Holsomback said.
He said he charged the deposit to a credit card and hopes to get the money back.
According to court papers, the aliases Sarah Barendse and Katelyn Smith were used with DWBE Inc.'s PayPal account, which was linked with a Citizens Bank account. The bank told investigators the account was opened in the name of Tucker's co-conspirator and provided a photograph of the account-holders that appear to be Tucker and the co-conspirator, according to the criminal complaint.
She allegedly conducted scams against wedding businesses in Boston, Ohio, Florida, Maryland and Nevada, as well as DFW, "with varying degrees of success," FBI special agent Scott Durivage wrote in an affidavit filed in court.
In Boston, Tucker and her co-conspirator allegedly posed as representatives of a business known as The Boston 411, then led the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority to believe they would hold an extravagant home and bridal show at the Hynes Convention Center over three days in March.
The heavily promoted show promised exhibitors face time with thousands of pre-registered brides-to-be, though few were actually lined up, authorities said. Prosecutors said Tucker and the other person collected fees in advance from exhibitors, but used most of the money for personal expenses, including rent, restaurants and shopping trips to Walmart.
"Tucker and (the co-conspirator) intended to collect fees for a bridal convention that would never take place and to make it appear that the convention would still be held after its cancellation, in order to postpone complaints and make off with the money," Durivage wrote in the affidavit.
U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said the scheme cost many small businesses thousands of dollars and had "a large impact, with victims that spanned across the country."
Tucker, 47, is charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
She made a brief appearance in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. She will be held without bail until a detention hearing can be held in Boston.
Her lawyer, federal public defender Michael Novara, did not comment. After the hearing, as she was led away in shackles, Tucker declined to comment.
NBCDFW's Kevin Cokely and The Associated Press' Denise Lavoie contributed to this report.
