COLUMBUS – Sure as Script Ohio and complaints about the offensive line, nothing says “Buckeye football season” like ticket scams.
Columbus police say they arrested a man on Monday for bilking a woman out of $20 in a con game involving non-existent Ohio State tickets, according to Det. Carl Covey of the Burglary Unit.
It’s not the first time Martin Alper has run afoul of the law for trying to work an OSU ticket scam, Covey said.
Covery says Alper, 66, started a conversation with Caren Adams, 43, at a Tim Horton’s on N. High Street in Clintonville, where he told her he had tickets to the Nov. 26 OSU/Michigan game tickets, which he would sell her for face value, which is $100, if she gave him $20 now.
Alper, who Covey says gave Adams a fake name, promised they could meet later.
Covey says he had Adams contact Alper several times and set up meeting times but Alper failed to show up.
After failed to appear for a meeting on Monday, an arrest warrant was filed on a charge of theft by deception and Alper was arrested at his home on Rickenbacker Avenue, Covey said.
Covey says Alper was arrested for similar felony ticket scams in 2007.
If anyone has had contact with Alper to purchase football tickets, Covey says they should contact him at 614-645-2073.