Guilty plea entered in ticket sales scam

Guilty plea entered
in ticket sales scam

A Colts Neck man faces five years in prison for defrauding $777,000 from customers and the New Jersey treasury through his Route 9 ticket brokerage.

John B. Forrest, former owner of Tri-State Ticket Exchange, 2350 Route 9, Old Bridge, pleaded guilty Sept. 12 in state Superior Court, New Brunswick, to a five-count accusation, including 39 complaints filed by the Old Bridge Police Department.

As part of an agreement with the state Attorney General’s Office and the state Department of Community Affairs, Forrest agreed to repay consumers and the state treasury $777,000 he received for the resale of concert, theater and sporting event tickets, Deputy Attorney General Frank J. Brady Jr. said.

That agreement also prohibits Forrest from ever operating or selling event tickets again in New Jersey, Brady said.

Forrest, of Colts Neck, pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Phillip Paley. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 9.

Forrest pleaded guilty to theft by deception, fraudulent use of credit cards, misapplication of entrusted funds, failure to file state tax returns and failure to pay state sales taxes, Brady said.

Two of the charges, theft by deception and misapplication of entrusted funds, are second-degree offenses carrying a maximum prison term of 10 years, Brady said.

However, in return for his guilty plea and his agreement to never operate a ticket sales business again, Forrest will be sentenced as a third-degree offender, subject to a maximum term of five years in jail.

The lesser sentence also resulted from Forrest’s agreement to pay restitution to more than 100 customers he bilked for tickets he never delivered and to the state treasury for sales taxes he never paid, Brady said.

Forrest is accused of stealing more than $75,000 from customers by double billing their credit cards for ticket sales and charging for tickets that were never actually produced.

In November, Forrest was targeted by state and local authorities after he failed to deliver tickets or misrepresented sales to a number of customers who purchased tickets to concerts, Broadway shows, and sporting events. Those customers, in turn, filed complaints with Old Bridge police.

After receiving and investigating nearly 25 complaints over two months, police executed search warrants at the ticket brokerage on Nov. 27 and seized assorted evidence including computers and boxes of paperwork.

Forrest was arrested during that raid and charged with 25 counts of theft by deception and fraudulent use of credit cards. He was later released on $750,000 bail, police said.

Forrest was arrested last October by Old Bridge police and charged with three counts of credit card fraud and two counts of theft by deception based upon complaints filed by three consumers who never received tickets they had bought through his agency. Forrest was released at that time on $250,000 bail, police said.