Houston brides lose over $153k to 'Wedding Scammer'; Charleston Lane investigation continues

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3 days ago

The Brief
Charleston Lane's former operator is accused of running off with payments from Houston couples and not delivering services. The current total from our reporting is over $153 thousand in losses.
Authorities are investigating the Willis wedding venue after FOX 26 aired a story on allegations of fraud.
More possible victims are coming forward alleging losses and unauthorized credit card payments.
FOX26 continues the investigation into the former operator of the Charleston Lane venue in Willis, Texas.
The total losses of possible victims who have come forward now totals more than $153,000.
The backstory
In March, FOX 26 broke the story of a Houston bride who lost more than $50 thousand to the former operator after showing up to the venue the day before her wedding to locked doors.
After the story aired, the Montgomery County District Attorney confirmed that the Sheriff's office launched an investigation into the matter.
A follow-up story featured more victims coming forward telling similar tales of unfulfilled services, locked doors and bounced refund checks.
The venue is now under new ownership according to the current owner. FOX26 is not reporting the name of the former operator because no criminal charges have been filed, but it is reported in 'The Wedding Scammer' podcast by Justin Sayles. Sayles alleges this operator has been defrauding people nationwide for years.
What they're saying
Possible victims, like Rashidah, are continuing to speak out.
"I saw [the previous] story, and I was like, oh my gosh, that's sad and that's when I reached out to you, I didn't even know the place was closed," she said.
She has a wedding date set at Charleston Lane in September, but she doesn't think it's going to happen.
"I tried calling the numbers are out of service and tried emailing but haven't gotten a response," she said.
She says she spent $2,225 booking the venue and paid through Zelle.
"I was a little skeptical of it at first because the names didn't match up," she said. But the operator confirmed it was the right account and she proceeded.
"I sent the payment, they sent me a receipt saying they had received the payment and ever since then I have not heard back from them," she said.
Chanell Joseph says she's getting the same "ghosting" treatment.
"The numbers are out of service, the emails bounce back," she said.
Joseph has her wedding at the venue in March. She says it was beautiful and everything went well - until the food came out.
"All the food was cold, room temperature to cold," she said, adding that the menu items weren't correct either. "It wasn't what we paid for."
She says the former operator agreed to refund 50 percent of the food cost as well as her security deposit.
"We were looking at about $5,500 to $6,000 he was supposed to be refunding me back. I thought that was very fair," she said.
But then, the operator stopped picking up the phone.
"I didn't receive a dime, I have not received a dime to date," she said.
She says once she saw FOX 26's reports, she started digging.
"That got my wheels turning and I started going through credit card documentation."
Joseph says she sent the operator a credit card authorization form to submit payments.
Looking through the documentation, which FOX 26 verified, payments matching the amounts for her wedding were taken out, but were not sent to Charleston Lane. One payment was sent to an insurance company and the other to an apparent apartment complex.
"I pulled up the invoice from Charleston lane where it said I had made the payment and pulled up my credit card statement. It was the exact same amount on the exact same date," she said. "I'm only led to believe that he allegedly used my credit card number to pay off these other people, but pawned it off as me paying on the invoice."
"Don't give up," said Rashidah. "I know it's going to be a long journey for all of us. It won't happen overnight, but don't give up. We're going to have our wedding, and we need to get our money back."
What's next
FOX 26 has now made contact with 11 people who say this former operator owes them money or defrauded them in some way. Through documentation, the total losses between all those individuals were calculated to be $153,308.
What you can do
Those with a similar story or information on the matter are asked to contact the sheriff's office at 281-577-8971.
FOX 26's Abigail Dye is continuing the investigation. If you have a story to share, she can be reached by email at [e-mail].
The Source
This article was written with information from possible victims, financial documentation those individuals provided, information from the Montgomery County District Attorney and previous FOX26 reporting.