Monder Law Group - News
Be Careful of Scalping Tickets for Comic-Con In San Diego
At last year’s comic con 100’s of people were cited for scalping comic-con tickets because they are not offered for re-sale. The San Diego Police Department operated a sting operation on Craigslist and Backpages to meet up with people that were both selling and buying Comic-Con tickets in San Diego. This huge event generates millions of dollars for San Diego and San Diego will do everything in its power to protect the viability of the business. Please be careful when meeting up with people that you do not know because they are undercover officers working to minimize the flow of tickets on the black market.
Comic-Con has gained a lot of momentum over the years and these tickets have become harder to come by. However, it is not worth risking a criminal conviction. Last year I handled multiple defendants who were citied for scalping these tickets near the convention center. If you find yourself in a situation where you have a court date to appear for this behavior, you must call an attorney as soon as possible.
The best approach in dealing with these cases initially is sending the City Attorney Office a mitigation packet. The City Attorney Office handles the prosecution of these cases and they are often filed as misdemeanors. The purpose of sending the mitigation packet to the issuing department at the City Attorney Office is to separate your case from the people they are actually looking to convict. The person that the prosecution wants to prosecute is someone that has prior criminal record for similar behavior and selling multiple tickets from an unauthorized source. Often we get calls of people that came to San Diego last minute on vacation and they wanted to either attend the convention or about to leave San Diego last minute and want to get rid of their tickets. The first thing I will ask as your lawyer is have you ever been in trouble for this before and what do you do for a living. A lot can be learned from these questions that will shape the way the City Attorney Office looks at your particular case in determining whether or not they want to file formal charges against you on the court date mentioned on your citation. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Attorney Vik Monder at 619-405-0063 or visit San Diego Criminal Defense Lawyer