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Two Men Arrested for Selling Fake Super Bowl Tickets, DA Says

By Gustavo Solis | January 28, 2014 4:10pm
 The con artists were caught with hundreds of fake tickets to the game and Super Bowl parties around town, authorities said.
Super Bowl Ticket Fraud
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QUEENS — Two men charged with counterfeiting Super Bowl tickets at Kinko’s could be watching the big game from behind bars.

Damon Daniels, 43, of Jamaica and Eugene Fladger, 32, of Philadelphia were arrested inside a Bronx White Castle Monday for running a phony ticket operation, according to the Queens District Attorney. Not only did they sell tickets to this weekend's championship game, they also sold parking passes and tickets to Super Bowl events around town, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The National Football League tipped off the NYPD in December.

Soon after, officers set up a sting operation, posing as eager football fans buying tickets from Daniels and Fladger.

On Dec. 18, an undercover cop paid Daniels $1,200 for eight fake tickets to a game between the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys.

A second exchange took place on Jan. 2, when an undercover officer again paid $1,200.

This time, he got four supposed tickets to a playoff game between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts, a parking pass to the game, six tickets to another playoff game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New Orleans Saints, and a parking pass to that game, according to the Queens DA.

On Monday, Daniels and Fladger were arrested holding a bag filled with 36 fake tickets to the Super Bowl, eight counterfeit parking passes, 12 tickets to the NFL Honors Party at Radio City Music Hall, three tickets to the NFL Commissioner’s Party at the Waldorf-Astoria, and 69 tickets to various Super Bowl events.

They are each charged with a lengthy list of forgery-related offenses including 79 counts of trademark counterfeiting, three counts of criminal possession of a forgery device, and one count of conspiracy. If convicted, they face up to seven years in prison.

The tickets had the official NFL logo and a bar code specially designed to fool stadium scanners, according to the DA.

“Individuals who bought tickets or passes through the Internet may be in for a rude awakening on game day,” said District Attorney Richard Brown.

The DA declined to say how many fans were ripped off.