Pico Rivera Sheriff’s Station Detectives were investigating several reports of Theft by Trick or Device allegedly committed by a suspect with the name of Ricardo Gonzalez.
The person identifying himself as Ricardo Gonzalez allegedly agreed to sell tickets to a Vicente Fernandez Concert to several people he contacted on the internet via Facebook and Craigslist.
The concert tickets were fraudulent and when the buyers arrived at the concert, they were turned away by concert organizers who told them they were fake tickets. Each sale consisted of groups of tickets and resulted in significant monetary loss for his victims totaling thousands of dollars.
Sheriff’s detectives located and arrested 24-year old Suspect Ricardo Gonzalez, a resident of Pico Rivera, in connection with a theft by trick or device and forgery scheme involving local concert tickets.
Investigation revealed the suspect was altering PDF files of TicketMaster concert tickets.
The suspect then sold the forged concert tickets to various victims especially via the internet. The victims were from Pico Rivera, Whittier, Norwalk, Los Angeles and other communities in the Los Angeles County area.
The suspect implicated himself and provided names of additional victims related to the crime.
The suspect was booked at Pico Rivera Sheriff’s Station on Wednesday, May 8, 2013, and charged with Forgery. His bail was set at $20,000.00.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Captain James Thornton of the Pico Rivera Sheriff’s Station encourages anyone else who may have been victimized by this scheme to report the matter to authorities as soon as possible. Please contact the Pico Rivera Sheriff’s Station at (562) 949-2421. Or if you wish to remain Anonymous, call “LA Crime Stoppers” by dialing 800-222-TIPS (8477), texting the letters TIPLA plus your tip to CRIMES (274637), or using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org
The Sheriff’s Department recommends that the community be vigilant when purchasing items such as these through internet connections, particularly when the parties involved are unknown to the consumer. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Forwarded by:
Sgt. Rich Peña
Deputy Kim Manatt
Captain Mike Parker
Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau - Newsroom
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
323-267-4800
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Leroy D. Baca, Sheriff
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
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