The Indiana Attorney General’s Office is investigating a Carmel-based tour operator that a church says bilked thousands of dollars from its youth group planning a trip to Germany.

The Christ Church youth group in Washington, D.C., said British European Specialty Tours was paid $41,600 for a Christian pilgrimage for 18 youth and their chaperones, but two weeks before the group was to depart, the church received a letter from the tour operator stating its office had closed.

The attorney general’s office launched the investigation to determine whether there were improprieties, said Molly Butters, spokesperson for the attorney general’s office.Butters said the investigation will focus on determining when the tour operator knew it was going out of business and if it continued to accept payments and other contracts knowing that it was closing.Butters said others may have adversely been affected by the tour company’s closing. They are encouraged to file a complaint at www.indianaconsumer.com, a Web site operated by the state attorney general.Attorney Matthew Griffith, identified as the tour company’s attorney in a letter to the church, refused to comment. Multiple attempts were made to contact Michael Sylvester, listed on state corporate records as the president of the company.The Rev. Deirdre Eckian said Christ Church youth fundraised for two years to help pay for the eight-day trip scheduled for June 18. After chili sales, pancake breakfasts and other fundraising, the group owed a balance of about $23,000.“We were waiting to get details that they hadn’t provided us,” said Eckian, who was also planning to go on the trip. “We were very lucky that we did not send our final payment.”Butters said the only other complaint against the company was one filed at the attorney general’s office in 2007. It involved a billing dispute that was resolved the same year. Records show the company was founded in 2001.Meanwhile, the church is working with an Indianapolis-based law firm to recoup some or all of the money that was paid to the tour company, Eckian said.