4 arrested in sales of counterfeit Cup tickets
Pittsburgh police have arrested four men believed to be part of a New York-based counterfeit ticket ring after a monthlong investigation of the sale of bogus Penguins playoff tickets.
A police report said plainclothes detectives were assigned to “saturate the Downtown area” after a “recent surge” in counterfeit tickets.
The four men, all from New York, were charged with offenses including forgery, theft by deception and trademark counterfeiting. Police also seized 52 counterfeit tickets and more than $2,000 in cash.
City police spokeswoman Sonya Toler said the investigation began in early May, after people started complaining that
they had purchased counterfeit tickets. Most of the victims said they had contacted sellers on Craigslist, arranged to meet via text messages and realized the tickets were fake only when they we returned away from PPG Paints Arena on game night. One of the first com-plaints was lodged on May 1, when am an told police he purchased four tickets for $425 that turned out to be counter-feit. A week later, police ar-rested Taylor Williams ,28, and seized more $1,000 in cash ,29 bogus tickets, and a small bag of mari-juana. Mr. Williams was charged with forgery, trademark counterfeit-ing, theft by deception, and prohibited acts. By the end of May, po-lice had received many more reports of counter-feit Penguins tickets. De-tectives began carrying portable ticket scanners to determine whether people scalping on streets around the arena had real or counterfeit tickets for playoff games. According to a police affidavit filed Tuesday, am an told officers Mon-day night that he had just bought counterfeit tick-ets from am an still near the arena. Police arrested Gerald Vail es ,45, and seized tickets worth more than $7,600, the affidavit said. Mr. Vail est old police that he and his “boys” were in Pittsburgh for the Monday and Wednes-day night games against the Nashville Predators, they had purchased coun-terfeit tickets. Most of the victims said they had con-tacted sellers on Craigslist, arranged to meet via text messages and realized the tickets were fake only when they we returned away from PPG Paints Arena on game night. One of the first com-plaints was lodged on May 1, when am an told police he purchased four tickets for $425 that turned out to be counterfeit. A week later, police ar-rested Taylor Williams ,28, and seized more $1,000 in cash ,29 bogus tickets, and a small bag of marijuana. Mr. Williams was charged with forgery, trademark counterfeit-ing, theft by deception, and prohibited acts. By the end of May, po-lice had received many more reports of counterfeit Penguins tickets. Detectives began carrying portable ticket scanners to determine whether people scalping on streets around the arena had real or counterfeit tickets for playoff games. According to a police affidavit filed Tuesday, am an told officers Mon-day night that he had just bought counterfeit tick-ets from am an still near the arena. Police arrested Gerald Vail es ,45, and seized tickets worth more than $7,600, the affidavit said. Mr. Vail est old police that he and his “boys” were in Pittsburgh for the Monday and Wednes-day night games against the Nashville Predators, after which they had planned to goto Tennes-see this weekend. He was was charged with forgery and trade-mark counterfeiting. The following day, an-other man reported that he had been scammed out of $1,200. He said a friend also had been in contact with the seller, and the friend arranged a meeting at which am an identified as Juan Ramirez was ar-rested and charged with forgery, trademark coun-terfeiting, and theft by deception. Mr. Ramirez was also carrying a New York identification card in someone else’s name and a cellphone with re-peated calls from a busi-ness on nearby Forbes Avenue, police said. At the business, detectives arrested Shawn Stewart ,18, and charged him with forgery and trademark counterfeit-ing. Ms. To le rs aid Pitts-burgh and Nashville po-lice have communicated about counterfeit tick-ets. The Penguin sand the Predators will meet for Games 3 and 4 of the Stanley Cup final Satur-day and Monday at Bridge stone Arena in Nashville. Nashville plans to have more than 100 offi-cers plus undercover de-tectives outside the arena for the games, ac-cording to a press release from the Nashville Met-ropolitan Police Department.
Eliza Fawcett: efawcett@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1601.