The tickets to Pittsburgh Penguins and Pirates games and other events were supposed to go to disadvantaged or at-risk kids as an act of charity.
Instead, according to a grand jury investigation, they were intercepted by unscrupulous people who exploited a nonprofit trying to help underprivileged children.
Pennsylvania State Police on Thursday charged six people in Pittsburgh, North Versailles and Johnstown, and two organizations, with conspiring to obtain the free tickets and then either give them to their own family and friends or sell them to scalpers for a profit.
The investigation — which identified Tickets for Kids, a Pittsburgh nonprofit, as the victim — showed the conspiracy went back years and involved thousands of tickets valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars, the grand jury said.
According to a grand jury presentment, the defendants exploited Tickets for Kids by using their own nonprofit groups to obtain free tickets.
Once the donated tickets were provided to the various nonprofits, the defendants then diverted them, the grand jury alleged.
Those charged include Todd Anthony Hall, 55; Ramona Wilkes, 63; Kevin Riley, 59; and Jacob Mazzie, 26, all of Pittsburgh; Mary Henning, 64, of North Versailles; Steel City Tickets, aka AAA Primetime Tickets, of Green Tree; Quan Britt, 48, of Johnstown; and Hope 4 Johnstown.
All of the individuals were charged with corrupt organizations, theft by deception, receiving stolen property, criminal use of a communication facility and criminal conspiracy.
Additionally, Britt, Mazzie and Henning are charged with dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity and deceptive or fraudulent business practices; Riley is charged with dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity; while Wilkes and Hall are also charged with deceptive or fraudulent business practices.
Henning’s attorney, Ralph Karsh, said he could not comment on the case. Messages left for the listed attorneys for the other defendants on Friday were not returned.
Messages left with the nonprofit organizations involved also were not returned.
Britt is the executive director of Hope 4 Johnstown. According to the presentment, Britt fraudulently ordered 536 free tickets, valued at $16,711, between June and November.
For most of those, Britt listed himself or one other person as the chaperone, the grand jury said.
In a statement Friday to TribLive, Tickets for Kids Executive Director Brandice Miller said the organization’s safeguards didn’t work.
“While we’ve always had strong safeguards to prevent this type of activity, those safeguards were bypassed by individuals acting outside our policies,” Miller said. “In response, we’ve implemented new measures to protect our mission and ensure every child has access to the opportunities they deserve.”
‘Concerning patterns’
Under Tickets for Kids’ policy, to qualify for tickets, nonprofit groups are required to apply, provide their tax status and show that at least 70% of their clients are low-income or at-risk youth.
Once approved, each organization is required to appoint someone to request and receive tickets. Under the program’s rules, tickets are only for the children and their chaperone.
“The tickets can never be used by organization employees, resold or given away,” the presentment said.
Once approved, the nonprofit’s point person can view available tickets online, choose events and order tickets.
The organizations are required to submit a post-event report.
As part of the fraud, the presentment said, the point person would list themselves as the chaperone for the event and then fabricate information for the post-event report.
According to the presentment, Miller discovered the fraud after she got a call from another person who said he had been solicited to use his nonprofit to obtain free tickets.
“The (confidential informant) was told that he would be paid to sign his organization up with (Tickets for Kids) and use it to obtain free tickets, which would be resold by someone else for a profit,” the presentment said.
Miller then reviewed the program’s system and “discovered concerning patterns in the records.”
She called state police, which investigated for several months, including conducting undercover ticket purchases.
Tickets for Kids operates in Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, New York and Washington, D.C.
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Since its founding, the organization’s website said, it has distributed more than 3.6 million tickets valued at more than $83 million for events including sports, entertainment, arts, culture education and STEM.
Undercover buy
Text messages presented to the grand jury showed that Britt’s contact in the conspiracy sold many of the tickets he obtained from Britt to Mazzie to resell.
Mazzie and Steel City Tickets served as third-party brokers, fraudulently obtaining the tickets and then reselling them, the grand jury said.
State Trooper Eric Guido set up two undercover controlled purchases of tickets provided by Tickets for Kids.
On Sept. 10, Guido bought four tickets from Mazzie for $60, the presentment said.
“This purchase was completed in person near PNC Park, after which Mazzie handed Trooper Guido a business card for ‘Prime Time Tickets’ with Mazzie’s phone number in case he needed any tickets in the future.”
The next day, the trooper bought 10 tickets from Mazzie for the Pirates game for $200.
In each instance, the grand jury said, the tickets matched ones ordered from Tickets for Kids.
Pitt, WVU football games
According to the presentment, Henning, the chief financial officer for the Center for Family Excellence, a nonprofit in the Hill District, also was involved.
She used Riley, a ticket scalper, to resell the tickets for a profit, the presentment said.
Henning testified before the grand jury she had been allowing her family members to use the free tickets for years, sometimes listing her daughter as the head chaperone.
From 2013 to 2024, Henning’s daughter was listed as a chaperone 18 times, the grand jury said.
In 2019, according to the presentment, Henning was approached by Riley at the will call window of PNC Park. He asked if she would be interested in selling tickets. Although she declined initially, she took his card and later called him, the grand jury found.
“They arranged for Henning to obtain tickets to various sporting events, including Pittsburgh Pirates games, West Virginia football games, University of Pittsburgh football games and Pittsburgh Penguins games,” the presentment said.
Riley was listed as a chaperone for 366 tickets valued at $8,746. Henning was listed as a chaperone for 7,235 tickets valued at $207,844.
On Oct. 24, Guido, the trooper, conducted an undercover buy from Riley for two tickets for $60.
According to the presentment, nonprofit Pittsburgh Mercy also was involved through service coordinator Ramona Wilkes and Todd Hall, another employee.
The grand jury heard testimony that Wilkes and Hall ordered large quantities of free tickets that were used by themselves, co-workers, friends and family.
Wilkes testified before the grand jury that she knew the tickets were to be used for children served by Pittsburgh Mercy.
According to the presentment, Wilkes and Hall frequently ordered 50 tickets and then split them evenly.
At the time, Pittsburgh Mercy had programs servicing only about 20 children, the grand jury said.
Staff writer Michael DiVittorio contributed to this report.