Delco Man Sold $1.28M In Stolen USGA Golf Tourney Tickets: Feds

GLEN MILLS, PA — A Delaware County man has been federally charged with participating in a conspiracy to steal and sell more than $3 million worth of U.S. Open golf tickets, authorities said.

James Bell, 69, of Glen Mills, has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, and one count of wire fraud after authorities alleged he and another man planned to sell US Open tickets stolen by a former United States Golf Association employee.

Also charged with the same crimes is Jeremi Michael Conaway, 46, of West Chester.

According to authorities, Bell conspired with former United States Golf Association (USGA) employee Robert Fryer, who already pleaded guilty to similar charges, to operating a fraud scheme against the USGA in which Fryer would steal U.S. Open tickets and provide them to Bell in return for cash.

Bell is accused of paying Fryer $324,652 for at least 7,000 stolen U.S. Open tournament tickets, which Bell sold for $922,886 for a profit of $598,234. Authorities are seeking to have those proceeds forfeited.

It is also alleged Bell obtained stolen U.S. Open tickets from Fryer that had a face value of $1.28 million, which should have been paid to the USGA for the tickets, thus causing to USGA to lose that amount of ticket revenue.

Bell is accused of selling these U.S. Open tickets through his company for a profit.

Court filings also allege that the USGA had no knowledge that Fryer was stealing these tickets or providing them to the ticket brokers.

In fact, the USGA had a strict 20-ticket cap on the number of tickets that it would sell to any one person, but Bell and Conway were allegedly able to get thousands of tickets to U.S. Open tournaments by buying stolen tickets from Fryer, who delivered the stolen U.S. Open tickets to Conaway and Bell sometimes in person, and sometimes by sending them via Federal Express or UPS, either to the ticket brokers themselves or directly to their customers.

Authorities allege that Bell, who operated Sherry’s Theater Ticket Agency Inc., began buying stolen U.S. Open tickets from Fryer in 2017, in advance of the U.S. Open that was held at Erin Hills in Erin, Wisconsin, and continued purchasing stolen tickets through the 2019 U.S. Open.

Bell faces a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison, a three-year period of supervised release, a $1,250,000 fine, and a $500 special assessment. In addition, Bell will be required to pay restitution to the USGA and forfeit the proceeds each obtained as a result of their fraud.