Fugitive wanted for embezzlement turns herself in to Tift County Sheriff’s Office
Published 4:38 pm Friday, November 17, 2017
- Margaret Lynne Matheson
TIFTON — A Florida woman wanted by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office for 93 felony counts turned herself in to the Tift County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, Nov. 15.
Margaret Lynn Matheson, 43, is charged along with her husband with embezzlement, failing to maintain passenger funds in a trust account and failing to provide refunds, according to the California Attorney General’s office.
According to TCSO, Matheson came to the office and informed officers that she was wanted out of California and that she was turning herself in. When deputies ran her name they discovered that she was wanted out of San Diego. She is currently being held in the county jail.
According to TCSO, Matheson is not fighting extradition and is waiting on transport back to California.
Matheson and her husband, Bradley Matheson, 52, ran Harmony International, a travel company based out of Kennesaw. They are accused of bilking approximately $99,000 out of high school band students. Thirty-two victims are identified in the indictment.
According to a press release from the California DA’s office, in December 2014, Bradley Matheson met with a high school band director and offered to make arrangements for a school band trip to Japan from July 11 through July 18, 2017 through his company Harmony International.
According to the trip brochure, the tour cost was $3,687 per person, which could be paid in installments over several months. The brochure stated that the trip included free travel insurance for early sign-ups, but parents later learned the Mathesons never actually purchased the insurance, the release stated.
More than 60 students and parents from San Marcos High School, Del Norte High School, Eastlake High School, and Mission Hills High School signed up to participate in the Japan trip and made payments to Harmony International, the statement reads. In April 2017, before the trip took place, the Matheson’s sent an email to parents telling them that the trip was canceled. At a school meeting the following month, the Mathesons’ attorney told parents the company had filed bankruptcy and could not issue refunds.
If convicted on all counts, the defendants each face up to 48 years in prison.
Update: The post was updated to reflect that Matheson is wanted by the San Diego District Attorney’s Office instead of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.