Field Trip Fail: Dominican Students Get NJ, Not DC

Teens get tour of Passaic, N.J. instead of the nation's capital after Dominican official stole trip money

A dozen high school students from the Dominican Republic visited New Jersey instead of Washington after their money for a class trip was stolen.

Students from the Dominican Republic Juvenile Parliament told The Record newspaper a Dominican government official who arranged their visas allegedly pocketed the $2,000 each student paid.

A message left for the consulate of the Dominican Republic in New York was not immediately returned.

Instead of visiting Washington's attractions, the students were taken in by Dominican families in New York and New Jersey and given a tour of government buildings in Passaic.

A speech on Third World development that the group was supposed to deliver at the Organization of American States in Washington was read before the Passaic County freeholders instead.

"For all of these students, it is the first time they have ever been to America," Bethania Marmolejos, a Wayne, N.J. mother of two who had five students living at her house this week, told the Record. "They were thrilled to be here, and excited by what they saw."
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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