PITTSBURGH — Six people and two organizations are accused of taking tickets obtained for free through a local nonprofit and reselling them.
The organization involved here is called Tickets for Kids. It’s a non-profit based in Blawnox that works with other non-profits to give low-income kids tickets to sporting events and places like museums.
Pennsylvania State Police tell us the investigation covers the last five years, but the fraud could’ve been longer than that.
“Once the tickets were donated, or provided to those various non-profit organizations -- those individuals that we listed moments ago -- diverted hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of tickets either for their own personal gain or they actually resold the tickets for personal profit,” Trooper Rocco Gagliardi said.
One of the organizations charged is nonprofit Hope4Johnstown.
“They might’ve had one event that was listed outside the parameters of these tickets,” Tpr. Rocco Gagliardi said. “There wasn’t much going on other than those tickets being used for personal gain.”
“This organization you’re talking about was, on paper, a legitimate nonprofit organization,” Tickets For Kids Executive Director Brandice Miller told Channel 11.
She says Tickets For Kids noticed something was wrong last summer and called PSP. Her organization has already taken steps to prevent this from happening again.
“This was a very isolated incident specific to one donor that primarily issued paper tickets. We have since moved away from using paper tickets. Virtual tickets are much easier to track,” she said.
If you’d like to donate tickets to the charity, you can find more information by clicking here.
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