RICHARD MCNEAL, 47, a Randallstown, MD resident, has been sentenced for Trafficking in Counterfeit Goods. On January 8, 2012, MCNEAL traveled to New Orleans to sell counterfeit tickets to the 2012 Allstate BCS National Championship game, selling four tickets for $3,000 to victims who were later turned away at the Mercedes Benz Super Dome due to the counterfeit tickets.
On February 2, 2013, MCNEAL again traveled to New Orleans to sell counterfeit tickets to the Super Bowl. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the National Football League (NFL) set up the NFL Ticket Reconciliation Office (TRO) to investigate counterfeit ticket sales. On February 3, 2013, HSI Special Agents were contacted by a victim who sought to verify the authenticity of two tickets she had purchased from MCNEAL for $1,650, which were later found to be counterfeit.
Following the discovery of the counterfeit tickets, HSI Special Agents, acting in an undercover capacity, arranged to meet MCNEAL at a local coffee shop to purchase Super Bowl tickets. MCNEAL offered to sell two Super Bowl tickets for $2,600 to an undercover HSI Special Agent. Officers of the New Orleans Police Department then arrested MCNEAL after it was determined that the tickets were counterfeit.
A second victim also came forward, entering the TRO with two counterfeit tickets he had purchased from MCNEAL for $1,000. The victim had MCNEAL’s telephone number and positively identified a photo of MCNEAL as the person who had sold him the counterfeit tickets.
MCNEAL was sentenced to 6 months incarceration, 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay full restitution of $5,650 to the victims. This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Picayune Police Department, the Pearl River County District Attorney’s Office, the New Orleans Police Department, and the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney G. Dall Kammer prosecuted the case.
MCNEAL’s crimes resulted in significant financial losses for the victims, who were left with counterfeit tickets and no access to the events they had purchased them for. The sentencing of MCNEAL serves as a reminder of the consequences of engaging in counterfeit activity and the importance of protecting consumers from scams.
The sentencing of MCNEAL is a victory for the victims and a testament to the hard work of the investigators and prosecutors involved in the case. As the investigation revealed, MCNEAL’s actions were not isolated incidents, but rather part of a larger scheme to sell counterfeit tickets to unsuspecting victims.
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