Key West Wedding Planner Charged With Fraud, Theft
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A Key West woman who listed herself online as a wedding planner is accused of defrauding two couples who paid her to plan their weddings.
One of the couples said they contacted Kathryn Bentley in August after seeing her name listed as the wedding planner on a website for the Islander Resort in Islamorada.
The couple, who were supposed to be married in November of 2016, began to suspect something was wrong when Bentley prematurely charged their credit card for a second payment in November, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. According to the contract they had with her, the payment wasn't due until February of 2016.
When they contacted her about it, she reportedly said she would return the money, but she didn't. They continued to try to contact her, but she did not return their calls. When they contacted the resort about it, the resort reportedly told them Bentley does not work for the resort and there were no reservations made for their wedding.
The second couple reportedly contacted Bentley in September and made several payments to her for a total of $23,000 for a wedding that was supposed to be scheduled for February of 2016.
When they couldn't reach her in January, they contacted the resort and discovered no payments had been made to them for the wedding. When they were finally able to get in touch with Bentley, she reportedly told them she would make a payment to the resort right away, but she never did.
Both couples called the sheriff's office in January to report Bentley. On Tuesday, she turned herself in and was charged with two counts each of grand theft and fraud. Detectives are still investigating and more charges may be pending.
