Crime & Safety

Local Man Scams California Women out of Thousands for Superbowl Tickets

The man has paid back $1,000 of the $5,000 he owes the two women. Bayside police say he has until June to pay back the remaining money or face criminal charges in Milwaukee County Court.

A 37-year-old Glendale man is trying to avoid charges in Milwaukee County Court by slowly, but surely, paying back $5,000 he stole from two 51-year-old California women to whom he "sold" Superbowl tickets.

According to Capt. Scott McConnell with , he made his first $1,000 payment on April 17 when he appeared for municipal court. He has until June to pay back the remaining $4,000 or face criminal charges for misdemeanor theft in Milwaukee County Court.

According to the report:

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A 51-year-old California woman called Bayside police on Feb. 1 to report that she had attempted to purchase Super Bowl tickets through an eBay transaction and is now out $5,000.

She won the eBay bid and agreed to pay $7,600 for the tickets. An attempt to pay through PayPal was “red flagged” by eBay and could not be completed because of the high dollar amount. The man said he would not be able to get the tickets until January and he would need prepayment in order to hold them. She agreed and sent him a $5,000 cashiers check as prepayment. The remaining $2,600 would be paid to the seller once she received the tickets. She said at that point, they were in constant contact via email, telephone and text messages. However, on Jan. 15, he disappeared. The victim told police she could not reach him at any of the previously successful numbers or email addresses and she then contacted Bayside police.

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Police records show that he did reside at the address he gave the victim, but it was unknown if he was actually there at the time.

Officers got a tip that he was living at an address in Glendale. Bayside police stopped by there and found him. He invited officers in and when they asked if he knew why they were there, he said, “The Super Bowl tickets.”

He said he legitimately offered the tickets in December because an acquaintance worked for the NFL and was going to purchase them for him. He said he received the $5,000 check and “used the money.” He said he was upset he did not have the tickets for the woman, but did not call her back because she threatened to “kill him.”

Officers asked if he had a backup plan after finding out she could not get the tickets and he’d already placed the ad on eBay. He said, “I guess not.” He said he did not try to “rip off” the woman, just “trusted “someone he now realizes he probably should not have.

He was booked for theft and now has until June to pay back the remaining money or face criminal charges in Milwaukee County Court.


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