Houston County District Attorney

Dean Rustin, the tour operator who was charged with theft in the cancellation of the 2001 Washington D.C. Honor Students trip by Houston County’s gifted schoolchildren has been arrested. As a result of his arrest, the final restitution in this case is being processed and will be mailed to the victims in accordance with the procedures outlined in this letter.

I've always said that the government is like an elephant, we may be slow, but when we catch the bad guy, we'll stomp him. Such is the case as it involves Dean Rustin, the tour operator who defrauded you in 2001 over the cancellation of the Washington D.C. trip after the horrific events of September 11.

You may recall that there was an agreement by the majority of victims that if Mr. Rustin paid a 50% refund of the trip expenses that there would be no further prosecution of him. There were offers of other trips, but wisely the group universally declined to do that and instead just opted for the 50% refund. Mr. Rustin made the first of two payments of $16,500, but never made the final payment.

Since he defaulted on that obligation, we proceeded with the indictment and attempted arraignment, only we were unable to locate Mr. Rustin. We have been looking for him ever since. It is surprising hard to find somebody who doesn't get in trouble. As recently as November, 2007, I obtained an "Accurint" search of Mr. Rustin which showed a Tampa, FL address, but the Sheriff there was unable to locate him. Fortunately, as fate would have it, he became embroiled in a dispute that got the police called in the Atlanta area where he was visiting some family members, at which time Mr. Rustin was arrested on our outstanding bench warrant.

So having explained why this case is back on the front burner, I am pleased to tell you that “the check is in the mail.” In order to get out of jail, Mr. Rustin’s family paid the balance of the prior agreement and I agreed to accept it on the theory that what I have in my hands is better than what I might could get one day down the road with a renewed prosecution of Mr. Rustin based on seven year old facts.

Since Mr. Rustin paid the remaining $16,500 balance, and since so much time has elapsed from the original event, I have decided to divide the restitution between those victims that respond to my office by November 11, 2008. A letter is being mailed to all known victims at the last address shown in our files. Victims may respond by mail or email or telephone to my office. Every victim that responds will be paid a pro-rata share based on the total number of responses and the amount that they paid to Mr. Rustin in 2001. Our plan is to send the restitution checks out by regular mail on November 18, 2008.

It's not much and there can never be a full atonement of the aggravation that we all went through back in 2001 dealing with Mr. Rustin, but it is finished.

Sincerely,
Kelly R. Burke

Please notify me via mail, email or telephone if you wish to participate in the refund and give me your current address and telephone number. Click Here to view the PDF of known victims and addresses as of 2002.