Fake Lady Gaga ticket seller enters plea
Debra Brass
A 28-year-old Hermosa woman accused of using Craigslist to sell fraudulent tickets to a Lady Gaga concert has been ordered to pay $7,000 restitution, complete 58 days of work service and serve three years probation after pleading no contest to grand theft, police said.
The matter surfaced last August when police were contacted by a would-be concertgoer who claimed she had purchased counterfeit Lady Gaga tickets from a woman in Hermosa Beach.
Hermosa Beach Police Detective David Bohacik began an investigation with one victim that ultimately resulted with a total of 47.
“Detective Bohacik interviewed suspect Debra Brass during which she denied any wrongdoing. Suspect Brass claimed that she legitimately purchased several tickets to the Lady Gaga concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and she then inadvertently made a duplicate copy and sold the same pair twice,” Detective Mick Gaglia said.
“Detective Bohacik contacted the large number of victims individually. Nearly every victim was able to identify suspect Brass as the person that sold them fraudulent tickets,” Gaglia said.
Brass entered her plea on March 8, police said.
“California law provides that the legal effect of a plea of “nolo contendere” – no contest – is the same as that of a plea of guilty, but the plea may not be used against a defendant as an admission in any civil suit based upon or growing out of the act upon which the criminal prosecution is based,” Gaglia said. “A plea of nolo contendere has the same force and effect as a plea of guilty.” ER