Travel agent charged with stealing more than $100,000 from clients

A Carol Stream woman who owned a travel agency in Bartlett has been charged with stealing more than $100,000 from her clients.

Colleen Kosiek, 50, of the 1200 block of Spring Valley Court, accepted payment from clients to arrange travel but did not use the money for its intended purpose, according to a news release from the DuPage County state's attorney's office.

The charges allege the crimes happened between April 13, 2017, and March 22, 2019. Court records list 22 people and a half-dozen banks and credit card companies as the victims.

In one charge, Kosiek is alleged to have created a fake invoice for airline tickets to Panama and Chile. In another, she is alleged to have forged a credit card receipt.

She faces 42 charges of theft, identity theft, financial institution fraud, forgery and continuing financial crimes enterprises.

Kosiek was indicted Jan. 21. Bail originally was set at $350,000, but on Tuesday Judge Alexander McGimpsey agreed with her request to reduce it to $100,000. Kosiek then turned herself in to Bartlett police and was freed on $10,000 bond.

Her next court date is March 10.

Kosiek's attorney, John J. Eunnace, said in a legal filing that Kosiek owned Ultimate Travel in Bartlett from June 2011 to January 2019, when it closed. She has worked as a grocery delivery worker since September 2019.

DuPage court records indicate five of the victims have sued her in small-claims and arbitration courts.